A Different Path
by Werewolfhunter16
Summary: Makarov never found Natsu and brought him back to Fairy Tail. And no one ever did find Natsu until it was too late. He'd already decided on becoming an independent mage to search for his father. 'The Salamander' is what he has become, and it is what he will always be. Right? AU. Not terribly different from canon.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello and welcome! Come one come all, drag the unwilling here by their hair and force them to read. Nah not really.**

 **Let' s get a few things straight since this is an AU. I always found it very helpful when the differences between canon and _your_ canon in a story extremely helpful so I hope you do too.**

 **Anyway, yeah this is an AU. Differences:**

 **1\. Natsu isn't in Fairy Tail. (No shit sherlock.)**

 **2\. Makarov did not ever manage to find Natsu, despite having a good idea of where he was. (Also no shit sherlock.)**

 **3\. Natsu is a wizard saint. But he is the weakest of the saints, and it has also been some time since he was officially a saint. (This will be explained later on obviously. I will give some hints and cackle madly as people flounder over what Natsu's origins are.)**

 **4\. This chapter is set a little before Hargeon.**

 **5\. Lucy will already be a member of Fairy Tail when she is introduced. I simply replaced Natsu recruiting her with Gray.**

 **6\. Natsu will be part of some of the minor events of Fairy Tail, mainly the ones where I plan on throwing him in and where the characters physically need Natsu to be there, but he will be in all the major ones.**

 **7\. Natsu is a little smarter. He's still lovably idiotic and dense, but he's a little more, shall we say, street smart since he's had to live on his own as an independent mage. (Don't worry, it's not super apparent here, but Natsu's boisterous and destructive personality will remain.)**

 **8\. Natsu is more powerful, the reason is so he can be around where he is canonically in strength later on in the story without training with Fairy Tail.**

 **Those are pretty much the differences. The rest will pretty much be explained bit by bit themselves. Also, there will be a poll for later on in the story, don't worry it's not up yet because it's a bit early, and the reason for this is because I have two very easily made ways this story can go and can't decide on which one.**

 **There will be pairings, you can probably guess, but it'll be a little slow since the first one won't happen until at least the Tower of Heaven. (Gee I wonder who that will be?)**

 **Don't worry, just because this chapter focuses on just Natsu and Erza don't mean shit, she was just the first one I could think of who would be aware of Natsu's new reputation and still be strong enough to put up a decent fight. The other characters will get their introductions with Natsu later on.**

 **Oh yeah, Natsu won't get name dropped in the story for a reason for a little bit. So don't worry about it, I didn't forget. He does have a past he doesn't want certain individuals learning about.**

 **This got way too long. Please allow me to apologize and just simply hope you enjoy it. Oh and leave a review please, it helps me stroke my ego.**

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He was sleeping. Whether he was dozing off just as she got there, or if he was already asleep, she didn't know. But she was simply at awe at her amazing luck. Every mage she knew was looking for this guy, he'd helped out anyone with money, be they from a reputable reputation or not, and as a result had some scuffles with just about every guild that wanted a piece of him, her guild particularly smart enough to leave the man alone. Though they had been approached to deal with him themselves.

Right in front of her, the infamous Salamander was sleeping in a tree with his blue cat, thing, that always accompanied him.

She was eager to cash in on his large bounty, but she couldn't bring herself to move to engage him. He had been a wizard saint, before becoming an independent mage, for quite some time. Even Erza hesitated when the enemy had such a reputation. But, it was known for a fact that the Salamander wouldn't attack unless provoked. Other than that, the Salamander's past was largely a mystery. Cloaked in rumor and suspicion, making it difficult to separate fact from fiction.

Which is why when he mumbled something about fish and rolled out of the tree and smacked headfirst into the ground with a loud crack, she visibly tensed when she thought that he may have shifted the blame onto her and attacked.

"Ow! Fuck! That hurt!" He exclaimed loudly, clutching at his sore skull in an attempt to null the concussion he'd probably just given himself.

"Aye! That's why you shouldn't sleep in trees!" His talking blue cat spoke, apparently using his body as a cushion since he'd fallen out as well. A pep in his voice that Erza couldn't help but find annoying and charming in equal amounts.

"Bite me. You slept right up there with me. I bet you even pushed me out of the tree for giggles!" He moved himself threateningly over his companion in a manner that made the small animal quake in fear.

"I'm sorry! I thought it would be funny!" He was trembling in what looked like genuine fear.

Unknown to Erza, this was almost an hourly occurrence between the two. So she felt compelled to intervene before the situation escalated into violence.

"I'm afraid I must ask you to not attack the animal." She said, requiping a sword in her hand and placing it suddenly against his throat before he noticed her.

The argument ceased and The Salamander's famous stoic face that betrayed his excitement rose to the surface once he faced his intruder. "Who the hell are you and why are you placing a sword against my throat?" He was actually surprised he couldn't smell her, all he could smell was strawberries and armor…okay, _now_ he could smell her. Her smell mixed with the forest around them quite well.

"My name is unimportant. I'm not going to allow you to harm this defenseless animal." She threatened, placing the sword tip more against his throat in a manner that showed she was dead serious. She wouldn't have defended him from an animal, but this creature was as intelligent as a human, so it deserved protection.

It clicked in his mind suddenly what she meant and he, as well as his cat, began laughing heavily. Flustered, Erza stomped her foot on the man's foot and demanded an explanation.

"Oww. Geez, you hit hard. Happy here, that's his name by the way, is my family. I wouldn't ever hurt my family." The Salamander explained, wincing as he rubbed his sore foot.

"Ohh…" That had thrown her for a bit of a loop. This was actually quite embarrassing. She returned her weapon to its home and suddenly found everything but the giggling mages face interesting. Normally, she wouldn't be so bashful in front of a dark mage, but she doubted her ability to survive an encounter with such a powerful mage, let alone win, so she tried her best to appear nonthreatening.

"Aye! He raised me from an egg!" The now named Happy said. A perky chirp to his voice.

Erza stared incredulously at the talking feline for a moment. She was aware that the cat spoke, it was just about the only thing really known about it, but it was ludicrous to think he hatched from an egg.

"Cat's don't hatch from eggs." She stated, feeling weird at saying words that never really should be said together.

"Ah! No one believes that, that's why I got these!" The Salamander said excitedly, pulling a handful of pictures that showed in clear view how Happy hatched from an egg.

For someone as relatively feared as he was, the Salamander's reputation didn't really fit him well at all. She chose to ignore the fact that Happy _did_ in fact hatch from an egg. He was a talking cat after all, so it was believable

"Anyway miss, uh-" He paused while he waited for her to give him her name.

"Erza Scarlet."

"Oh? That's easy to remember, it's the same color as your hair. I've always liked red hair like yours." He said cheerfully, missing the small blush that appeared on Erza's face due to her soft spot for her hair.

"Though that's probably because my dad was a giant red dragon." He stated bluntly, scratching at his chin in thought.

Never mind, he wasn't charming, he was just barbarically simple…wait, dragon?!

"You're father…was a dragon?" This was where she would draw the line, dragons had been extinct for hundreds of years. There was no way he was raised by a dragon.

"Well yeah. Your dad was a dragon too right?" He knew that wasn't true, but he couldn't resist putting in a joke or two.

She didn't know what to say. It was true The Salamander was often reported to be looking for a dragon, but thinking everyone was raised by dragons?

"Are you an idiot?" The Salamander had pretty much lost all credibility in her books if he was _that_ stupid.

"No." He said, frowning lightly at being called stupid. "I'm just screwing with you. If everyone's dad was a dragon. There'd be a lot more fucking dragons right?"

Despite the situation, she couldn't help but laugh softly, close her eyes, and shake her head with a small smile. "Your right. To think I believed for a moment your father was a dragon." She truly amused herself sometimes.

"Oh no. My dad's actually a dragon. That wasn't the joke." He said seriously, scratching his chin to keep his hands busy.

"Aye! He could talk for hours about Igneel! You should really listen sometime miss Erza." Happy chimed in, munching on a fish he got from…somewhere.

She just decided to accept that The Salamander was 'raised' by a dragon to preserve her sanity.

"Really now? Hours?" She was a bit curious. What kind of stories had he come up with in his spare time? She had spare time to kill and any hard evidence on The Salamander's past could lead to a capture in the future.

"Well I wouldn't say hours, but I can ramble on sometimes and where did you get that fish?" He stopped paying attention to Erza and suddenly harshly focused his trained gaze on the small cat next to him. He was positive that the fish happy was eating came out of _his_ stash.

Happy froze on the spot before hastily shoving the entire fish into his mouth. Ballooning his mouth to comical proportions.

"Hey give that back!"

"MMPH!"

"I said give it!"

"MMMMPH!"

Erza watched the scene with her mouth slightly open in shock. The routine was as confusing as it was entertaining. She watched Salamander struggle to catch his blue cat friend and yank the fish out of his mouth.

"You raised him since his 'birth' right? Doesn't that give you some kind of parental authority?" She asked, if Happy was her surrogate interspecies son, she would tolerate no such disrespect.

"This doesn't concern…hey…you're right!" Salamander exclaimed. Aiming a vicious grin towards his feline companion who began sweating bullets at the glare.

Happy sighed before quickly pulling the fish out of his mouth by the fleshy part of its tail. Surprisingly, that was the only part of the fish that had meat on it. Everything else had turned into, licked clean, bones.

The Salamander stared until he sighed in defeat. Tossing the bony body away before returning his attention to the scarlet haired mage.

"So why are you here by the way? Usually people run off after they figure out who I am. Maybe your confident in your fighting ability or whatever. Point is, why are you _still_ here?" He wasn't telling her to leave, merely asking why she hadn't left yet. He rather enjoyed the company of the woman.

While he hadn't outright said who he was, he did know who _she_ was and he knew that she knew he was the famous Salamander.

"Well, I planned on trying to apprehend you. But I'll admit, you're reputation and power as a former wizard saint made me reconsider." She answered truthfully.

He glanced sideways at her before a look of understanding painted his face. "Oh, you're intimidated by that? That's not all surprising. But you do know that I don't kill people right? But I'll fight you if you want to fight, I love a good scrap." He finished his statement by reflexively cracking his knuckles.

"I would rather not test myself against such an opponent who's out of my league." She said, subconsciously reaching for some sort of weapon at Salamander cracking his knuckles, expecting to use them.

Salamander scoffed at her apprehension. "Don't act like I don't know who Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail is. I just didn't know what she looks like whatsoever. Not only are you a member of Fiore's biggest guild, an accomplishment of its own, you're also one of the toughest members of that guild. If anyone could take my ass down, it'd be those crazy bastards."

Erza narrowed her eyes in suspicion. He seemed familiar with her guild, and _that_ made her wary as well as angry. "How are you affiliated with Fairy Tail? Answer me."

At this Salamander raised his hands in a defensive gesture. "Relax, I used to be a saint remember? You know they used to have meetings for those things. You know, kind of like guild master meetings but with a lot more fighting and alcohol. Makarov and I had a couple of conversations and even a match between us."

Her guard lowered but her fear returned. Her eyes widened slightly in disbelief at the thought that he was strong enough to fight on even ground with her master. "Don't tell me…you won?"

Salamander burst out laughing at the statement. His cat doing the same thing. "Hell no! He kicked my ass so bad I couldn't sit down for a week." That wasn't a lie, Makarov had stepped on him with his full, magically enhanced, weight and power and had broken his tailbone. He wasn't able to sit right for a week.

She sighed in relief. Why had she believed that her master could be bested? She really must have been far to on edge around, apparently, such a nice guy for her to react that way. "You're really not the kind of person I expected the Salamander to be. Tell me, you're a wizard, were you ever a part of a guild?"

"Well…once when I was younger. Seven, eight years ago. The guild was wiped out by a dark guild called…Grimoire Heart, I escaped by the skin of my teeth and because the woman who chased after me thought I was cute. After that, another guild took me in and sheltered me. Before you ask, they were coming after me because of my magic. " He'd added the last tidbit once he noticed her posing to ask about it.

She looked down at the ground, unsure of what to say. She knew that Grimoire Heart was a huge Dark Guild player. It was obvious that they had wanted to recruit him. But she was curious about his magic since he brought it up.

"What's so special about your magic?" She asked, unable to keep the curiosity out of her voice.

"Two things, it's a lost magic, that was the main reason they came after me by the way, and it was taught to me by my dad. The dragon, not my biological dad since I don't know who he is. It's called dragon slaying magic. Just put the element of the dragon who taught you before dragon slayer and bam. The title and magic you use right there." He explained.

"Interesting." He'd brought up his dragon father again. Did he really believe that his dad was a dragon? Really?

"Yeah. That's about it. Anyway, I'm heading into town to get a bite to eat. You coming?" He asked. Turning around to pick up a few belongings he had with him he stared at her while he awaited an answer.

She was in a predicament, leave and let The Salamander potentially ravage a town or go and observe his behavior by simply dining with him. She sighed as her righteous mind made the choice for her without even consulting the rest of her brain.

"I suppose I have no choice. I must observe you while you're in a town to ensure you don't harm anybody or burn it down for fun." She was about half serious, despite his incredibly friendly air and trusting actions, he was a dark mage and was a dark mage for a reason.

"Uh oh." The blue cat said sadly, he knew everybody pushed the monster button at one point. It was why he never bothered to try and make friends with people since they always thought Salamander was a monster. Even really famous wizards were dumb enough to say it.

Salamander's smile turned into a dark scowl as soon as the words left her mouth. "Even you are one of those people? Never mind, you can piss off back to Fairy Tail."

The change in demeanor and attitude jarred her. But his disrespect made her angry. "I'm not allowed to be cautious? You're one of, if not, the most powerful dark wizards out there. I have every right to be wary of your actions." She said, glaring daggers at what she once perceived as a decent man.

"Oh shut up. If you keep talking to me like I have some sort of switch in my skull that makes me kill happy, then you're an idiot." He was close to rampaging in the forest to take out his anger before he took it out on the cause of his anger.

" _What_ did you call me?" She said venomously, the air around her almost changing shape at the sheer amount of killing intent behind her words.

"I called you an-" His words were cut off by a sword materializing out of nowhere in Erza's hand before it was stabbed at his face. Instead of dodging and beating the absolute shit out of his attacker like he wanted to, he simply moved his head to the side and caught her gauntleted wrist in a vice grip.

"-Idiot."

The two entered into a fierce stare down and Erza, despite her fear, refused to back down even an inch. A feat that he did respect, no one challenged him anymore unless they were either completely above him or so far below they didn't care.

After a moment, Erza noticed how warm her gauntlet was becoming and noticed that his grip was beginning to crush her hand. That and her gauntlet was beginning to glow a bright orange.

Eyes widening in realization, Erza quickly requipped her sword away and switched it out for a dagger in her opposite hand, using that to simply lop off the restraints that held it in place and yanked her hand out of the now quite hot steel gauntlet. She would have just simply stabbed the man instead, but experience told her such a simple tactic wouldn't work. She noted how cold it was without her gauntlet and after its impromptu warming courtesy of Salamander.

"I guess _your_ reputation isn't a bunch of rumors and lies." He spit the words out of his mouth as if they were physically painful to say. He wasn't kidding either, he'd seen requip magic before and she was easily the fastest he'd ever seen.

Damn her temper. She'd just gone and started a fight with the man she _really_ didn't want to. But she wouldn't back down, now that she'd gone and pissed him off, there really wasn't anything standing in his way anymore if he decided to go on a rampage in the town.

"Your destructive background is well noted and documented Salamander. It doesn't matter the reason behind your outbursts." Most of his destruction was geared towards dark guilds who attempted to recruit him. The most famous one being when Grimoire Heart attempted to recruit him two years ago. There was no longer a town located there, and it had been the only known instance of Salamander getting his ass kicked. Though Grimoire Heart had not escaped unscathed either, three of the seven kin of purgatory needed to attack at once before he was forced to flee.

But he had attacked legal guilds before, with seemingly no warning. She couldn't recall the reason he'd given for his attacks so she ignored it.

But now that the thought of Salamander fighting and losing was on her mind, when was the last time he was a legal mage? Come to think of it, she couldn't remember him ever being on the saint wizard list. The thought made her pause, Salamander's backstory just became somewhat flimsy.

"Who are you Salamander? Nothing you say adds up." She accused, if her suspicions were correct then fighting him had just become much more thesible.

"She's smart!" Happy cued in, seemingly immune, or oblivious, to tense atmosphere.

"Of course she is…" He said, sighing before scratching the back of his head tiredly. No one had called him on his bullshit before. But that didn't mean she needed to know the complete truth.

"I was a saint wizard. But Salamander is just an alias. If I gave you my actual name, then it'd make sense to you. But you don't deserve it honestly. So please, just go back to Fairy Tail. I don't want to hurt any member of that guild or the old man will hang me by insides. Because he sure as hell won't let any of you fight me."

She narrowed her, eyes even more suspicious. She was right, he was hiding something. If she believed, even for a moment, he was raised by a dragon, it didn't hold any more water.

But on a more worrisome note, how acquainted was he with Fairy Tail?

"How close are you to Fairy Tail?" She would not hesitate to lay down her life for her comrades if Salamander had set his sights on it.

He frowned and sighed before crossing his arms. "Close is definitely the wrong word, but to keep you from knowing it'll work. I'm closer than you think or ever will find out. But rest assured…" He added that last part and put his hands up in another defensive gesture once he noticed she was about to tear his head from his shoulders at the mere implication he would raise his hand against the guild.

"…Fairy Tail is under _my_ protection under certain circumstances. As is another guild for the exact opposite circumstances." His answer was meant to confuse Scarlet as well as take the wind out of her sails.

But instead of either, all he got was a more intense glare. "I don't believe a word you say." It really sucked that Salamander had gotten his name _after_ he made a name for himself as a dark mage and not before. Then she could figure out who he was.

"Fine, don't believe me. But doesn't it strike you at least a little bit why I haven't attacked you? Even after you've attacked me twice so far? If my _reputation_ is so ironclad, then why aren't you a puddle of broken bones and shattered armor right now?" He was hesitant to attack any member of Fairy Tail, but Erza Scarlet was different.

If he attacked and destroyed her, then no one from the guild would bother attacking him in a confrontation. Instead the master would confront him on his own, _then_ , his secret would be open to the world if Makarov recognized him. He'd said to much already in his eagerness to have a conversation when he'd mentioned fighting with the crazy old midget.

You know, all that was after Makarov was finished beating him within an inch of his life.

He wasn't lying, that much she knew, so, _very_ reluctantly she requiped her dagger away and took a few calming breaths to get her breathing and heartbeat under control. She caught the gauntlet thrown back at her with ease but looked at it sourly as she could no longer wear it.

"Why would Fairy Tail need your precious protection Salamander?" She was a little angry at being called an idiot, and she was _pissed_ that he was implying Fairy Tail needed The Salamander's protection.

"I can't, won't, and don't want to tell you. Especially because you're a member of Fairy Tail. Now could you do me a favor and leave? I'm hungry as hell and I don't want to eat any more badly cooked animals." Despite having to live on his own for quite some time, he never really got the hang of cooking. Sure he was decent enough, but he could hardly make anything much more appealing than slightly burnt something.

"How convenient. As you know, I can't leave now that I've angered you. Now you may very well take your anger out on the forest around us. And you could unwittingly drag someone else in it." She paused and attempted to steel her nerves.

His face twisted in more barely restrained rage, but this time she was right. After she was gone he planned to absolutely devastate the forest and everything in it before going to some other town to eat.

"Happy, we're going to go in town for fish." Salamander said, spitting a small amount of condensed fire at the ground when he'd meant to actually spit.

"Aye sir!" Happy chirped, uh, happily.

The two of them ignored Erza's protests at stopping them with merely a couple of words telling her to, and quote, 'make me knight in rusted armor'. The words alone made her fume in anger so much that the two had walked off by the time she was done seeing red.

"That egotistical bastard! I'm going to skewer him!" She repeatedly hurled insults at Salamander despite him not being there. After her small tantrum she rushed off to the nearest town looking for him. She lost herself in the forest for a little while, forgetting which direction she had come in from, but eventually made it to the town.

Unknown to her, both of her targets were already aware of her tailing them and had simply stopped in the middle of the plaza and waited for her. Not in the mood to be stalked.

 _'There they are!'_ She thought, finally spotting them after searching all of the cities restaurants and warning them that The Salamander was coming. But the recognition she got from the owners was a simple shrug, which confused her.

It had actually taken her two hours to check the plaza.

"Speak of the devil…" Salamander drawled.

"Aye." His blue cat simply agreed.

"Where the hell have you two been?" She said through gritted teeth, his knight in rusted armor comment still fueling her anger.

"Here. In the plaza. Waiting for you." He answered truthfully, he wasn't in the mood for a dine and dash and had simply waited so she wouldn't crash his dinner and force him to flee from the rune knights that would show up.

"I highly doubt that. I bet you were running all over town from me!" She accused, pointing a finger at him and beginning to draw attention to them. Which Salamander noticed and sighed in annoyance.

"She really does assume the worst in people doesn't she?" He asked his cat companion.

"Aye! She does seem to be that kind of person." He answered, gnawing on another fish she'd assumed they'd stolen.

"Regardless of what kind of 'person' I am-" She was cut off when Salamander simply grabbed her non gauntleted hand and dragged her into a nearby restaurant.

"Be quiet and eat with me. I really am hungry and don't feel like having you crash my dinner. So help me if you tell anyone I'm here." The only reason he didn't get his ass kicked for dragging Erza where she didn't want to go was because she knew even his hesitance to fight Fairy Tail had a limit.

"Fine. But don't you _dare_ drag me somewhere again." She threatened, wrenching her hand out of his as viciously as possible.

"Yeah. I don't ever want to see you again. Let alone drag you off somewhere." After their stare battle again, Salamander found them a decent table by the window and sat down. Erza following shortly afterward, her intense gaze never wavering.

Just as he was about to make her stop glaring at him, a bubbly blonde waitress in pigtails and a, somewhat risqué, waitress uniform appeared at their table and handed them menus. Saying that she would be back shortly to take their order.

She sighed, since she was going to be eating her favorite food, she could forget her ire towards the man seated in front of her for the time being.

All of Salamander's annoyance at the woman seated across from him vanished immediately at the description of the food on the menu. He began salivating at the thought of filling his stomach with good food. Happy mirrored his actions down to the letter.

Something bothered her about the exchange. "Why didn't she say anything about him?" She asked, pointing toward the cat whom had completely forgotten where he was at the thought of drowning in fish.

"Oh I come here all the time. Was one reason I invited you. But you kind of ruined that plan. I was starting to enjoy the company." He answered quickly, never taking his eyes off the menu.

"You come here all the time?" She asked confused. Wasn't the Salamander known to wander the continent?

"Oh yeah. Did you really believe _that_ rumor of all of them? You think I can fly too?" The last one was probably his favorite since _technically_ he could.

"You can't?"

"Oh this might be a fun dinner after all."

"No, seriously, you can't fly?"

He looked over the menu with a look that could only be described as 'really?' She must have been genuinely curious to ask again.

"Well sort of." When he noticed her unsatisfied look he sighed, not sure how he' d explain it. "It's more like a really big jump. That I can only aim once. On the ground. And I sorta…can't land." He said, scratching the back of his head somewhat embarrassed.

"Really? How come you can't land?" She asked, genuinely becoming curious in what sounded like a serious problem.

"Uh well…I do land on my feet. It's just, I have so much damn speed because of it that I just tumble for awhile. That's why I just rely on Happy here for flying. Isn't that right Happy?" He said this with a bashful smile on his face. Embarrassed of the fact he couldn't land his technique to save his life.

"Sounds hilarious." She may not have sounded like it, but the image of Salamander launching into the air before plummeting back down like a comet was something she _desperately_ wanted to see.

Their conversation was interrupted by their bubbly waitress returning and asking for their orders.

"I'll have a strawberry shortcake." She'd noticed it on the menu and immediately decided on her dish. Though she looked on at her guest with a bit of curiosity at what kind of meals Salamander would eat.

"I'll just have the usual." He deliberately kept Erza in his peripheral vision to see how she would react to knowledge that he actually was here often.

"Be right back with your order!" The waitress said, bouncing off with the false enthusiasm waitresses had in order to elicit better tips and more customers.

"If I may ask, what's the usual?" She knew he deliberately asked for the usual to prove that he could speak the truth. But how much of what he says _is_ the truth?

"Everything from the meat section dipped in the most powerful spices the restaurant has. I like spicy foods." He answered, stretching and yawning loudly as if he'd just woken up that morning. While doing this, he subtly flicked the back of the cat next to him's head who was happily eating a fish.

"Wha?" He said through a mouthful of fish while looking around for whatever had struck him. He apparently looked right over the still innocently stretching pink haired man next to him as if he was invisible.

She had to admit to herself that the sight of Happy moving his head all about with his cheeks stuffed with half chewed fish was a funny enough sight. The way these two acted around each other, as well as how they acted in general, was boyish. Almost childlike. If she hadn't known what Salamander had looked like, then she would have never guessed his identity.

Eventually, the cat figured out who had flicked him. It had taken him quite some time, but when he did he glared harshly at the giggling man.

"Na-" The cat began, looking rather annoyed, before a hand clasped itself around his mouth.

The temperature around the two of them dropped significantly, despite Salamander being a fire mage, and Erza picked up on it. Happy was about to say something _incredibly_ incriminating, and judging by the terrified look he was giving her and Salamander, Happy knew how _badly_ he almost fucked up.

 _'Na what? Was he about to say something? Perhaps he was saying something about the Salamander's true identity?'_ She was already beginning to formulate some sort of plan.

Salamander wasn't stupid, and he knew members of Fairy Tail weren't stupid either. And he sure as hell knew Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail wasn't stupid. And he could tell from the accusatory glare she held on her face that she wouldn't believe a word from his mouth unless it was the truth. So it was time to make his leave.

The two of them bolted up from their seats and hastily made an exit, Erza getting up to chase them before a shockwave suddenly came out of nowhere and knocked her onto the ground. When she could finally see, she saw a small blue dot blurring away in the sky. Looking closer, she could tell that Salamander was grinning at her and waving.

She could only stare with a growing frown on her face.

 _'Salamander…'_

Her gaze hardened even farther as her fist clenched so tight her knuckles turned white.

 _'I will be the one to catch you.'_

She wasn't sure exactly what reason she wanted to be the one to put Salamander behind bars was. Perhaps it was because he insulted her intelligence. Maybe because he was apparently close to Fairy Tail and that didn't sit well with her. Maybe it was because he was clearly hiding something. But she did know one thing.

The Salamander was an interesting criminal.

Her thoughts were pulled away from the disappearing Salamander when a particular group nearby caught her attention.

"That was weird. So any news on Lullaby yet?" A man said, barely registering that someone had just taken off like a rocket.

 _'Lullaby?'_

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 **A/N: Badda bing badda boom Chapter one done. I'm trying something new here because I don't think it's been done. Though I can't be certain. Please enjoy and remember to stroke my ego.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: My god, look at this monster! This was not supposed to be this long, but it turned out beautifully and that makes me giggle.**

 **Anyway I don't have anything in particular to say, but I will respond to a certain reviewer. Leave any review if you want to ask a question I will answer it.**

 **Dude: I hope that's your name and not an error on my end. Anyway, I assume you mean Natsu and honestly I'm on the fence. I know who I'd pair him up with If I did but I'm unsure at the moment.**

 **Anyway, there is a poll on my profile now. It's nothing much, but it's asking if Natsu will end up joining Fairy Tail. You know, after he and Makarov clear up whatever beef they _might_ have. *Giggle*. It'll come down in two weeks.**

 **Remember to please enjoy and to stroke my ego.**

* * *

"Did you pay attention to what town this is Happy?" He didn't particularly care one way or another, he was in a town that didn't immediately recognize him and call the counsel, and that was all that mattered. He also had to talk to someone here as well, but that was somewhere near the bottom of his to do list.

"No. I was too busy with my fish." Happy said, eating on said fish he'd mentioned and working on finishing it off. Bite by, oh so tasty, bite.

"Oh well, barkeep! Two more of those firebombs." Eventually, his order was filled and Salamander immediately downed the two, apparently immensely powerful, alcoholic drinks. It was supposed to burn like a bitch, but he was basically immune to burning.

 _'Thank you pops.'_ Salamander thought to himself, grinning at the amazed face his bar compatriots were making.

He paid the bartender for his drinks and grabbed Happy and placed him on his head so he could eat his fish without having to focus on anything else. But nearly bowled over a blonde woman and her companion in his attempts to situate the blue cat.

"Hey watch it buddy." The man said, lacking a shirt and revealing a certain mark on his right pectoral.

 _'These guys are Fairy Tail?'_ He was somewhat surprised he'd run into members of the guild so soon. He'd just met Scarlet the other day. Maybe he could introduce himself and scare the hell out of Scarlet when they told him.

"Sorry about that. Here." Salamander said, offering his hand to the mage who was rubbing her butt and moaning lightly in pain while she mumbled something about men being assholes.

"It's all right. Accidents happen." The woman said, tenderly checking a brown case she had on her waist, he briefly caught a sight of gold and silver keys.

"All right, as long as we're cool that it wasn't on purpose. I wouldn't want to make Fairy Tail wizards angry." He said, offering up an embarrassed front to keep the conversation going.

"It's fine really-" Salamander interrupted her suddenly when he spared a glance at the glaring male and noticed he didn't only lack a shirt.

He turned his head and put a hand up to somehow stop the images assaulting his mind. "Why the hell are you in your underwear dude?"

"Gray! Dammit go find your clothes!" The woman exclaimed angrily. Pointing down the road.

"My clothes!" The now named Gray said, running off the way he came looking for the missing clothes.

After he was confident the mostly naked man was gone, he lowered his hand and faced the woman. "Sorry about that. Why was he naked?" He asked. Wondering why Fairy Tail would tolerate that kind of sullying of the name.

The woman tiredly sighed. "He has this weird habit to just strip at random. This is my first mission and he still can't keep his stripping habit in control. I'm sorry, where are my manners, my name's Lucy and the guy who just ran off is called Gray."

Salamander nodded. "I'm Salamander." He pointed toward the store nearby. "Want some tea while we wait for the stripper?"

Lucy sighed immensely, not recognizing the infamous Salamander, or rather, she would. But not for a while. "I'd love some."

"Don't forget about me!" Happy said sadly, tears coming out of his eyes like waterfalls upon noticing he'd been ignored.

They situated themselves and Salamander reached up to scratch Happy behind the ear, the spot he begrudgingly told him felt amazing to get scratched.

"So Salamander." Lucy began, staring down at her tea, having yet to take a sip. "Why do you have such a bizarre name?" It was an alias, but she knew that, she was just curious why he needed it.

"She hits hard right out of the gate!" Happy said, drinking his own tea from a specially requested cup that was nearly as big as his head.

"You're right she does. It's not all important. Just private reasons is all." He answered to both the cat and his dining guest.

"Oh, all right then." She understood completely, after all, she wasn't completely honest with her full name either. "Out of curiosity, since you use an alias, you're a wizard aren't you?"

Salamander snorted a little. "Yeah I am, I'm not in a guild though." Happy had wanted to speak up at this point, but he had ruined plenty of his friends conversations by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

 _'I have got to stop spilling so much if I don't want to get recognized.'_ He chastised himself.

"Why aren't you in a guild?" Most non-guild wizards she'd known were criminals somehow. But he didn't seem like a criminal. In all honesty, she was beginning to think about offering him a spot in the guild if he seemed lonely.

 _'Getting a bit personal aren't you? Oh well, I like honesty and she just screams 'I can't lie worth shit'. What excuse should I give her?'_ He had thought of a few over his time alone, and he pondered over which version to give her.

"I'm on the run." She would think he was on the run from some sort of guild, she wouldn't jump straight to dark mage right away right?

"From who?" Though she tried to hide her suspicion, it was clear in her tone that she was clearly now wary of him.

"A dark guild called Grimoire Heart." He said, finding no reason to lie to her if she was given only bits and pieces of the real truth.

" _They_ are after you?!" She began, her jaw dropping in surprise and worriedly looked around for any kind of assassin. Any mage worth their salt could recognize a guild of the Balam Alliance.

"Relax Lucy. They stopped a while ago when I fought their top guys on even footing for a while. They don't want to bother recruiting someone as strong as me by force since their master would probably have to do it." Salamander explained, alleviating her fears as soon as he noticed them.

"Okay. I'm back Lucy. Why are you still here?" Gray asked, fully clothed, once he spotted Lucy having tea with the guy that slammed into her.

"Relax stripper. I'm just keeping her occupied until you showed back up. No need to get pissy." Salamander said, a small look of annoyance aimed at Gray. Something about the man didn't sit well with him.

"Aye!" Happy began, jumping onto the table and brandishing another fish. Salamander began wondering how many he actually had on him. "If you keep being mean then I'll smack you with a fish!"

"Be quiet." Gray said angrily, placing a hand on the cat's head and freezing him. Much to Salamander's anger.

"Gray!" Lucy said suddenly, attempting to warn her friend, but the paralyzing glare from the Salamander froze her to her spot.

"Unfreeze him right now popsicle stick." Salamander threatened. Grabbing Gray by the front of his shirt and glaring straight into his face.

"Keep calling me names. Really makes me want to unfreeze him." Gray was suddenly aware of a large pressure on his foot before a pink blur smacked into his head. He didn't fall backwards only because the pressure on his foot.

He righted himself quickly and stood up straight into an oncoming fist that knocked him flat on his back. The punch dazed him with the power behind it and he didn't notice that the pink haired man had mounted him and pulled his face closer by his shirt again. Pulling the man out of his daze.

"Unfreeze him now!" There was no threat there anymore, it was a straight out order.

Gray could feel the tremendous power that was hiding beneath the surface and how it dwarfed his. So he slowly nodded his head and unfroze the blue cat he'd frozen in anger. Salamander immediately forgetting about him before rushing off to tend to his friend.

After contenting himself that Happy was all right he turned and glared daggers at the ice mage. The man glaring back softly.

"Your now officially on my shit list. Tell Scarlet I said hi." Salamander said before walking off to vent his frustration the first place he could find where he could do such a thing. He'd completely forgotten that Gray was a wizard of Fairy Tail.

"Gray, are you all right?" Lucy said quietly, reaching out to help him to his feet.

Gray glared at the retreating visage of Salamander before wiping his mouth, feeling a bit of blood escape his lips, and looked at Lucy. "Who the hell was he?"

"That was Salamander." Lucy answered, glad that her friend hadn't been turned into paste. That man had easily been capable of doing just that.

"What?!" He said, eyes wide as he looked at the retreating man who happened to turn around and stare him dead in the eyes.

 _'How the hell does Erza know this guy?'_

"That would have been really good information to know beforehand Lucy. That guy might be the most dangerous dark mage out there." He was aware of Salamander and his power, but he didn't know much personally about the man. But now he knew to not touch his cat.

"Why don't we take a breather? Here." Lucy said tentatively, handing a small napkin to Gray when she noticed a small dab of blood pool on his lips.

 _'I almost offered him to join Fairy Tail…'_ Lucy thought to herself with a sigh of relief. Deciding to do a bit more research on famous dark mages when they got back in Magnolia.

"Let's just get that stupid book." Gray said, spitting the blood out of his mouth and ignoring the napkin offered to him out of irritation. He would simply take his anger out on whoever was at this rich dude's mansion.

* * *

A Little Later

* * *

"Thank you for taking the request, oh great Salamander." Duke Everlue said nervously. He was thankful such a powerful mage had taken up the job. He'd grown suspicious of the several attempts on his possessions so he'd posted a job some time ago and someone as prominent as the Salamander had accepted it. He was no saint either, and it was why he didn't bother calling the authorities on the man.

"Mhmm." Salamander acknowledged the compliment, but wasn't in the mood to be around the weird Duke or his, disturbingly ugly, maids. Especially the pink haired one, she royally creeped him out with her affectionate way she said 'Salamander-sama'. It sent shivers down his spine.

"I'll be on the roof. Don't talk to me unless I'm needed." He said, grabbing a deck of cards and having Happy fly them onto the roof. He was already regretting this mission choice, but he'd only have to stay for a week since it was all he'd be able to sanely deal with.

"Let's play some go fish." Salamander said, beginning to shuffle the cards.

"Aye!" Happy exclaimed, more excited at a game that involved fish than the game itself.

* * *

Later

* * *

"You only picked me as your teammate because you needed a maid." Lucy mumbled to herself angrily. Glaring daggers at the man before turning and ringing the doorbell on Everlue's mansion.

"Hi! I'm here for the maid position!" Lucy began, false enthusiasm leaking from every fiber of her being.

While Lucy and Gray were working over the front entrance. Salamander had heard the conversations with his enhanced hearing and frowned.

"Those two Fairy Tail wizards are here. Talk about bad luck." He said, tossing the cards away as Happy was about to close in for the win. Much to the cat's sadness.

"Really?" He said curiously, ignoring the game as his friend did to join him looking out at the two mages on the ground floor as Lucy began screaming expletives at the ice wizard about how 'idiotic' and 'fucking stupid' both he and his plan was.

"She's pretty harsh. What do you say Happy? Want to make a cool entrance or not?" He asked, more or less on the fence. He only had a few ideas for either so he didn't mind which.

"Dramatic entrance!" Happy exclaimed loudly. Backing up onto the roof and pulling a black marker out of his green backpack.

"See you'll do this. then I'll do this. And then…" Happy then drew an extremely detailed and intricate explanation on where they would go to get fish after the two of them were finished.

Looking at the intricate diagram, Salamander noticed it didn't even involve the two wizards of Fairy Tail. Let alone any kind of dramatic entrance.

"Do you remember what I even asked you?" He asked, staring incredulously at the cat.

"No!"

"Thought so."

Before he continued the conversation any farther, Salamander felt magic beneath him go off briefly until it stopped just beneath him. "Happy I've got an idea."

Salamander got to a knee before coating his hand in flames and punching a hole in the roof. Creating a quick and instant jump to the mansion's library.

"All riiiiiiiiight!" He began, the floor crumbling beneath him and making him fall ungracefully into a now bigger hole. He had failed to take into account that his weight would cause the rest of the rubble around the hole to give in.

"Shiiiiiiit!" He yelled as he fell. Smacking face first into the ground and balancing his weight perfectly so he remained rigid on the spot.

"What the hell?" Lucy exclaimed, expecting anything but a random mage to fall through the ceiling.

"Hey isn't that…" Gray began, beginning to fear the worst.

"Dammit!" The man began, rising to his feet and shaking the debris out of his pink hair revealing him to be The Salamander. Showing no sign that the fall had actually hurt him. "It didn't work Happy! It did not work."

"Aye!" The cat said happily. Floating casually next to the, now standing, man as he brushed what was left of the dirt off his clothes before facing the two wizards and putting his hands in his pockets casually.

Gray gritted his teeth in frustration. This wouldn't be a mission they could handle alone. So he grabbed Lucy's arm and brought her ear close to whisper a plan into her ear.

"Whispering won't work! I have super good hearing by the way." To accentuate his point, he stuck a finger in his ear to pull out an imaginary wad of wax.

"Fine. Lucy, when he's distracted. Run, try and get out of here and we'll meet up somewhere outside the mansion." Gray growled out, putting himself in front of the woman and ready to lunge at an opponent way out of his league.

"Oh shut up. I could deal with you before she got out of the building if I got completely serious. So do me a favor and just tell me what you want. If you're nice, then I might let you have it." He taunted them with a smile. This was just business between opposing guilds with missions. No one should get mad right? Well, he wasn't in a guild but the point remained the same.

Gray and Lucy spared a glance towards each other and decided that it couldn't hurt if he knew. If they got lucky, he might just destroy the book for them.

"We're looking for a book called daybreak. Our client wants us to retrieve it for him." Lucy said from behind Gray, moving out slightly to show him they had no intention of angering him.

"Daybreak? Happy, find the book for me." Salamander began, the blue cat standing at attention and saluting him before flying off to search through the books.

"Entertain me. If you can last long enough for him to find the book then you win and you can have it. Lose and…well I'll let you decide." He would of let them have the book normally, since he knew Everlue was a dirty rotten bastard and had no problem with saying he didn't notice the break in, but Gray had frozen Happy solid and that _really_ pissed him off.

He saw Gray's eyes widen in surprise before he looked down at the ground slightly in realization. "Let me handle this guy Lucy. I don't want you getting hurt." He knew that this was just a way to get back at him for freezing his cat.

"Will this get me off your list?" Gray said, cracking his neck and tossing his shirt to the side. Already prepared to go all out.

"No."

"Thought not."

There was a brief pause before a torrent of fire poured from Salamander's mouth and flew towards him at a blistering speed. Gray could only widen his eyes and throw up an ice shield that looked similar to a flower in full bloom.

"It held…" Salamander said slowly, how the hell did it hold?

"It held…" Gray mimicked his actions and his thoughts before a tick mark appeared on Salamander's face.

"Don't copy me!" He claimed, pointing an accusing finger towards him.

"You don't copy me then!" Again the two mirrored their thoughts and action and that enraged Salamander.

"Come here you!" He said, suddenly launching himself at the ice mage with torrents of fire propelling from his feet to increase his speed.

Gray was unable to do anything but strengthen his shield, but it wasn't enough when Salamander simply busted straight through it with what looked like little effort. The flying punch traveled through his shield and straight into his face and it sent him skidding along the floor, dragging his hand flat against it the whole time.

Salamander charged again but slipped on the thin ice that Gray had created when his hand skidded along the ground. His momentary lack of footing was all that was needed for Gray to deliver a powerful uppercut to his jaw picking him up off the ground and making him roll backwards once he landed.

"Ice Make: Lance!" Gray yelled, channeling as much magic into his hands as possible before sending his lances to pelt the still stunned Salamander as much as possible. He winced slightly when he smacked his fist into his palm, punching Salamander's face felt like punching a brick wall.

Gray panted, having had a lot of wind knocked out of him from the short fight. He didn't have any option to pace himself like Salamander did. He had to go all out from the start. But when he saw the bloody body of Salamander, he let a small smile crack his face. Until he heard a faint chuckling.

"You know, I'm rather surprised you got such a good hit on me." Salamander said, jumping to his feet and revealing that his wounds were almost nonexistent. His clothes looked only mildly torn, as if he moved his body to take the blows instead of his clothes.

"You gotta be kidding me…" Gray and Lucy said in unison, after that kind of combo, they were sure it would have done more damage than that.

"I'd say that was about….roughly fifty percent you just beat there. But I think we can both agree that this fight is about to turn _drastically_ in my favor." The voice that belonged to the man they had previously known had vanished, in its place was a much deeper and throatier voice, as if it was coming from a being much larger than he.

He put his fists together as his fire swirled around him and threatened to go through the roof. His expression darkened and an excited grin split his face.

"Your stronger than a lot of people I've met. Tell me, what's your name?" Salamander asked, never dropping the predatory gaze from his eyes as he stared at the man.

Gray felt small under such an intense gaze. "Gray Fullbuster." He said these words almost against his own will he was so scared of the overwhelming magical pressure that Salamander was exerting.

He nodded in recognition. "I acknowledge your strength, you're going to be allowed to see my _real_ power. But first, tell me, is there anyone tougher then you in your guild?" Particularly he wanted to know if anyone was stronger than Erza Scarlet.

Gray laughed lightly, more to alleviate his own fear than anything else. "Yeah, there's one who's _way_ stronger than me. If I put their face on your body right now then you might as well be the same person."

This peaked his attention, he was giving Gray a full demonstration of his magical power, well toned down enough that it wouldn't incinerate the building and everything in it, and someone was as strong as this? This person he had to meet.

"What's their name?"

Gray gulped again, forgetting about everything else in the room when he felt Salamander's terrifying gaze bore into him and into his soul. "I think you already know her." He answered honestly.

His interest deflated somewhat. "Scarlet? Don't try and sell me on that. I already met Erza Scarlet and the thought of fighting me was enough to stop her in her tracks." He paused briefly as he put a hand on his chin. "Then again, she already knew who I was when she met me. She's a sharp one, in any case-" He was cut off by a perky voice who seemed completely immune to the tension in the air.

"Found it!" Happy chirped, holding a yellow book that read 'Daybreak'.

"Oh, nevermind then. Catch!" Salamander said, catching the book Happy tossed to him before tossing it to the stunned Gray. Who missed it and sent his head snapping backwards as it bounced off his skull and into Lucy's hands.

"All right! Great job Gray! Mission accomplished!" Lucy chanted to herself, already feeling the murderous intent in the air completely vanish and the Salamander turning back into a neutral party.

"Yay…" He half heartedly replied, rubbing the spot on his face where the book bounced off. Glaring at Salamander softly.

"Hey Fullbuster!" Salamander said suddenly, gaining his attention while Lucy focused on some particular part of the book that fascinated her.

"What?" He asked, wondering if he was going to put some last minute addition to their deal.

"I forgive you for freezing Happy earlier in town. I did antagonize you by calling you stripper and everything. So no hard feelings?" He asked, looking at him as if he didn't care one way or the other about the following answer. He didn't, but their fight let him work out pretty much all of his anger towards the stripping ice mage and he was willing to bury the hatchet.

"Sure." While his answer was nonchalant, Gray was eager to get Salamander's target off of his back.

"I'll see you two around, have fun dealing with the maids and Everlue! You can also claim to have driven me off or whatever I don't care." With that, The Salamander shattered the window of the library by hurling his body through it and forgetting he was on the second floor.

"Shiiiiiiit!" He seemed to have a habit of falling today.

* * *

Some Time Later

* * *

He didn't stick around too long, once he could see Everlue's mansion collapse he decided it was time to leave. But on the road, he couldn't help but stop for a nap near the road. So he climbed up into the tree off the beaten path and snored away. Happy simply floating there, pondering on whether he should ask his questions or not.

Salamander noticed his friends troubled expression after he opened his eyes and frowned slightly in worry. "What's wrong buddy?"

Happy snapped out of whatever trance he was in and frowned. "Why did you let them have the book?" The feline knew his friend could easily wipe the floor with both of those mages, so why had he let them beat him? He hated losing.

Salamander scratched his head in thought, not expecting such an obvious question. "Well, I wanted a fight. And he seemed more than eager to brawl. Plus, they _are_ Fairy Tail. So I was really pushing my luck back at Everlue's place. That, and holding on to a grudge is tiresome." He explained stretching as far as his limbs would allow until they released a satisfactory pop.

"I didn't think you were _that_ forgiving. Fairy Tail is really lucky you're such a nice guy!" Happy said, dropping the subject with satisfaction at his answer.

Salamander grinned. "Yes they are." He positioned himself to go back to sleep, Happy joining him, until another interruption woke him from his sleep.

"Are you the dark mage Salamander?" Said a man of a group of two.

He cracked open an eye and stared down at the two men below him, one dressed in a white coat with black trim and jet black hair that was slicked back, he didn't recognize him. But the man standing next to him with the large scythe and coiling purple tattoos he did recognize.

"What does Eisenwald want?" He asked, keeping a persistent stare on the two mages. He knew Erigor well and knew the man was capable of decent stealth. The other one he was simply being cautious for cautiousness' sake.

"We're here to ask for your services Salamander." Erigor, Eisenwald's ace asked, being as respectful as he could be to the dark mage who kind of hated dark guilds such as his.

"What makes you think I want to work with you?" He said harshly.

"We understand your extra fee, but we really need your strength for our next mission." Erigor insisted, he wouldn't leave until Salamander said yes.

"Oh fine." He said, hopping down from his tree and facing the two mages. His pay from Everlue was garbage and he'd like some serious spending money right now. "Two million."

"Deal." Erigor fully intended to betray the man and kill him before he paid up, so this was acceptable if it got The Salamander on board.

"So what do you want me for?" He asked, scratching his neck before stretching his arms and legs.

"Just be at Kunugi Station in three days." Erigor said, handing him a flyer that signified the acceptance of the job and had the details of the job as well.

He watched the two of them leave and didn't move his eyes away until they were completely gone from his vision. "Well, we're going to be wealthy soon."

* * *

Three Days Later

* * *

He was pretty sure a lot of information was being withheld from him, but at the moment he just did not fucking care. His stomach made it's shitty disposition known as it attempted to bring his lunch that morning outside of his body. He was glad that he told Happy to wait on the outside of the train so he couldn't mock him with the rest of the guild.

The reason for Salamander's sickness? Motion sickness.

He could not sit well on any sort of transportation whatsoever, he had already heard several members snicker about how the mighty Salamander had been brought down by such a trivial thing. He'd threaten to tear out their tongues, but every time he opened his mouth to speak he almost hurled. So he just had to deal with it and when the train stopped moving he would punch the first person to laugh so hard.

"So Salamander, you know what you're supposed to do right?" Erigor asked, showing respect where mostly everyone else laughed, mainly out of fear.

He shakily shook his head at the question. Once the people pursuing them attacked, he was supposed to show up once the guild had been beaten, if, and stall or defeat them. Then he would be paid and could go home and get off this god forsaken train.

"All right maggots! Let's do this!" Erigor would have said more, but he distinctly felt Salamander would draw the line and wipe them out himself. Which was something he could easily do.

Salamander was only aware of what happened after the train stopped and the guild got off and began attacking the train station. He'd basically forced Erigor that no death would occur. So when the screaming stopped and his stomach came back from doing flips he situated himself near the window to see out onto the train platform. And he wanted to kick Erigor's ass.

He could see a bunch of innocent civilians sprawled out onto the floor on several parts of the train station and the sight made him angry. But then he heard Erigor start yelling some crazy shit about killing the civilians in the town with some sort of lullaby and that made his vision turn red. Did Erigor think he was an idiot?

"ERIGOR!" He bellowed, his magic flaring up in his rage. Shattering the train car and nearly burning the blue cat hovering above the train to a crisp. He wasn't thinking that becoming furious would play into Erigor's hands at all. Which is why he missed the smile that crept onto Erigor's face as the fairy flies in front of him became distracted by him.

"I'll let my recruit deal with you. I'm off!" He said, disappearing into the wall just as Salamander burst into the station and wiped out half the Eisenwald guild just by simply swinging his arms and coating them with flames that seemed similar to wings. He wasn't really thinking about who was in his way anymore, he just knew he was going to kick Erigor's ass.

Erza swore audibly. "What is he doing here?" She said out loud, drawing everyone's attention o her before it transferred onto the enraged Salamander.

"You can't be serious. He's working with them?" Gray said feeling a weird sense of betrayal from the man that shown him such pity and kindness just a few days ago.

"Erza what's that monster doing here?" Lucy said fearfully, finally seeing what an enraged Salamander could do.

"That? That's Salamander?" Said a white haired woman, seeing an apparition appearing behind the famed Salamander that resembled a real dragon far too well.

 _'They're in my way.'_ He thought to himself, sticking out his arms, jumping into the air, and spinning as fast as he could while extending his fire as far as he could until it swallowed up the entirety of the Eisenwald guild in a fiery tornado. When it stopped, it revealed Salamander standing in the middle, still furious, and the burnt bodies of Eisenwald rained down upon them all.

When he regained his breath, he began running in the direction Erigor was until Erza got in his way, dressed in a scantily clad armor that revealed her midriff and had wings that appeared to be made of blades.

She raised a sword and pointed it at Salamander, noticing that Mirajane had already used her Take Over: Satan Soul, and moved to support her left. Gray quickly moving to support her right. Lucy deciding she didn't have much of a place in this fight and supported the rear.

"If you are working with these people Salamander, then you should know that even you can't defeat all of us." Erza said, feeling herself begin to sweat from the heat Salamander was putting off.

"I don't have time for this, I have to stop Erigor!" Salamander attempted to reason with them, damning himself for believing Erigor was capable of doing such a simple mission that wouldn't result in any deaths.

The group simply glared at him, they didn't believe a word he said. Growling in frustration he grabbed at his hair and tried one last thing. "Then somebody go stop that crazy son of a bitch before he kills the entire town!" He was almost pleading with them to see reason.

Erza's glare hardened in indecision, Salamander was right, even though he was lying. Someone had to stop Erigor. "Gray, Lucy! You two stop Erigor, Mira and I will handle Salamander." She ordered, using a tone that left no room for backtalk.

Gray looked worried for a moment, but remembered that Erza and Mira were both incredibly strong. The two of them should be able to Salamander.

"Let's go Lucy!" He said, grabbing her wrist and dragging her outside; despite her protests.

"What about them?" She said as her cries were drowned out as they ran in the direction of Erigor.

Salamander glared angrily, beyond confused why they would stand in his way when they both had the same goal. But it didn't matter anymore, he was far too angry to think about sparing them because they were Fairy Tail.

"Fine, I'd like to fight Titania and the Demon Mirajane of Fairy Tail at the same time. Come at me then you idiots!" He'd recognized the Take Over magic name and the famous look Mirajane had with it.

"Dance my blades!" Erza shouted, numerous weapons appearing out of nowhere and flew towards the pink haired man.

He smiled and jumped to dodge the weapons but jumped straight into a thunderous flying kick from the hands, or should I say feet, of Mirajane. Sending him flying off into the wall for Erza to immediately be upon him again as soon as he was on his feet.

"Pentagram sword!" She yelled, slashing the swords in her hand so fast and in such a pattern that it created a pentagram, hence the name, shape on his back and front. Causing blood to begin leaking out of the wound.

Reeling from the wound, he didn't see Mirajane use that second to close in on him and create a hugely condensed dark magic ball in her hands. "Evil explosion!" The attack sent him flying again into a pillar, burying him underneath the rubble and lamenting that evil explosion wasn't actually an explosion which prevented him from eating it.

Erza and Mira paused their assault momentarily when Salamander didn't immediately rise from the rubble. But they were far too experienced of mages to expect such a powerful wizard to be down so easily.

But they weren't prepared for the ground to begin shaking and for the rubble on top of Salamander, instead of being blasted off, simply melt into a magma that he slowly rose out of. Devouring the magma that stuck to his arm with a devilish smile.

"You two really are strong! I need to be serious then!" He said, before his body exploded with flames the like of which they'd never seen before. Their intensity dwarfed any fire they'd ever seen.

Salamander suddenly appeared in between the two of them. Causing both women's eyes to bug out of their skulls in surprise. "How-" Was all Erza could comment before a burning fist crashed into her barely prepared guard and blew her across the room. He brought up his own guard and stopped Mirajane's roundhouse and noted with a smile that it still hurt. He quickly grabbed the woman and spun her around at an arm's length before tossing her as hard as he could at the, now standing, requip mage.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" He yelled, sending an enormous torrent of fire crashing into the two women. It raged furiously for a moment before it suddenly dispersed to show Erza standing in front of Mirajane with a new set of armor. This one was completely black, red, and orange and made her look as if she was part fire. It even changed her hairstyle into that of pigtails.

"How did that not burn you to a crisp?" He said angrily, feeling his magic swell up again at the mere thought something could stand up to his fire.

"I'll need something stronger Erza." Mirajane said as she transformed into another Take Over: Satan Soul Astri. The new suit looked much more intimidating than the skimpy purple outfit from before. She looked like she had completely encased herself in a hard blue and black demon suit.

"I agree." Erza said, transforming into a pitch black suit of armor with a sword as large as she was with spikes jutting out from the armor and sides of the sword. It was more of a maul that a sword through.

Through the fog of his anger, Salamander's mind cleared a little bit at seeing the two women. "I think I've heard about you two. The Black Demon combination right? Erza's Purgatory Armor, and Mirajane's Astri Satan Soul. " He cracked his neck and grinned excitedly, smacking his fist together as sparks shot out from between the two.

"If I were anybody else, I'd be a little bit scared!" Despite the two mages in front of him being renowned as pretty much the strongest duo in Fiore, his excitement almost bubbled over in ridiculous proportions. He hadn't had a good fight in years and these two barely had a scratch so far! Maybe together they could even perhaps defeat him.

The two of them lunged at him with a ferocious speed, faster than he expected. With that moment of hesitation, Mirajane delivered a punishingly powerful punch to his stomach, following it up with a punch that snapped his head violently to the side. The two blows stunned him and he could only feel Erza's giant sword drive into his stomach, and sending him rolling all over himself.

He stopped himself by slamming his hand into the ground and digging up the ground until the friction stopped him. Snapping to his feet, Salamander blocked another punch from the demon and trapped her hand in his, slipping his foot behind her to knock her off her feet. He used his hand that was still holding onto her's and threw her over his head and slammed her into the ground with enough force to create a crater.

His entire arm lit back up in intense flames and he cocked his fist back to deliver the finishing blow, but he could feel Erza running up behind him ready to crush him with her giant blade. Snarling in frustration, he turned around and swung his fist as powerfully as his muscles could allow and locked with the women's sword.

It shattered and in the moment of her shock, Salamander used the momentum of his punch to swing his foot around and bring his fiery foot into the face of Mirajane, who had just managed to get her feet. The blow sent her rolling and clutching at the burn mark on her face once she stopped, falling onto her face when she tried to stand before transforming out of Satan Soul.

He planted his foot on the ground and drove his fist into Erza's stomach shattering the armor piece around her midsection and slammed her into the wall hard enough to lodge her in it.

 _'We went at him with everything…'_ Erza thought to herself, a dreadful fear beginning to rise in her gut.

 _'And in just a few hits he beat us…'_ Mirajane finished in her own head, both women beginning to fear the worst as Salamander stood terrifyingly triumphant over both of them.

Salamander stood with several wounds on his body, blood pouring profusely from the wounds Erza had inflicted with her weapons and Mirajane with her claws. Dirt and grime stuck to his body, but the only sign of weakness was a genuine one where he almost fell to a knee before holding a hand up.

"Happy!" He shouted, the blue cat popping out from behind cover and tossing a little bottle that rattled in his hands.

He smiled softly and held the bottle up so both women could see it. "Had I needed to get past you, this would of let me go so far beyond your level that it would have been embarrassing. With this, I went from fighting one of the seven kin on even footing to fighting all seven of them at once." He exaggerated slightly, but no one really knew how that story went, and with the beat down he just handed out, both women would probably listen to everything he said. Though he left out the part where he would be left as weak as a newborn after it wore off.

The object in question was a small red pill that basically let him temporarily enter dragon force, though he'd only ever used them once since Igneel had left them with him, he had sworn to _never_ use them again unless his life or someone he loved was in danger. It's contents were an absolute mystery and every medical person he'd ever asked said the same thing.

Both of their eyes widened but it was completely believable. Even after they went all out against him, Salamander had seemed to have an ace up his sleeve the entire time. And this was it.

He took a step but looked back at the two of them with a frown before sighing. "Happy grab the demon and bring her over here." He ordered, the blue cat nodding happily.

He walked over to where Erza was stuck inside the wall before grabbing her at the shoulder and waist and yanking her out of the wall. Catching her as her limp body fell out.

"Now I'm going to give both of you some help. Maybe help my reputation a bit." He began, pausing as he felt her magic swell up in her hand. His eye twitched angrily.

"If you stab me I swear I will break your arm." He threatened, feeling her tense frightfully before simply resting on his shoulder, too weak to protest any farther.

"You got the other one-yeah you do-all right let's go."

"Where are you taking us?" Erza said weakly, looking back and forth between Salamander's head and Mirajane's unconscious body being carried by Happy with little effort.

"To your team or to help. Whichever comes first." He left out the part where he would probably be attacking Erigor before he took them anywhere.

"Wherever you really intend to take us. I swear, Fairy Tail will destroy you." Erza said, determinedly.

"Oh goody. There he is." Salamander said suddenly. Ignoring Erza's comment about taking her someplace where he'd murder everyone in the room for being part of.

She could feel his muscles tense and twitch in anticipation and before she could wonder for long, a voice made itself obvious s to why he was so wound up.

"Oh congratulation Salamander! Well done! I wouldn't expect less from someone of your skill!" Erigor said excitedly, floating high in the sky and sarcastically clapping his hands with a grin on his hands.

"Why you're purposefully angering someone you _know_ is stronger than you I don't know. But I really am not in the mood right now to be lied to. I did what you asked me, albeit unwilling. so tell me what you plan to do now." Salamander asked, purposefully trying to make the wizards nearby believe he'd come around to working with him.

"Well, I suppose since the fairy flies can't fight back now. Might as well tell them what they failed to stop. I'm going to play the Lullaby and kill the guild masters at their meeting!" He said, grinning smugly at the beaten women.

Erza felt a flood of power surge within her at the words, but Salamander kept her from acting on it by squeezing hard around her body.

He scratched his head confused at such an action, did he want to get curb stomped by the strongest mages in Fiore? "That's dumb, but in all honesty it's what I should of expected from someone as idiotic as you."

Erigor frowned darkly at the words, he could see from here that the Salamander was on his last legs and grinned darkly at what he was implying. "Oh? What exactly do you mean by that boy?"

He smirked at the challenging words. "I'm glad I had Happy and I steal _this_ then!" He said, pulling out a wooden flute with a skull on one end. Smirking even larger at the terrified look on Erigor's face.

"What?! How?! When?!" He demanded, feeling all around his body before donning a confused look on his face as he pulled out the Lullaby he'd been holding onto.

"Do me a favor Scarlet, I'll let you go but do me a favor first. In reality, I _do_ have the real Lullaby. So after Erigor looks like he's about to go for it, I'll poke you with my finger. Then I want you to grab it and act woozy on your feet and be ready to destroy it. But whatever you do, while I stop Erigor don't you _dare_ destroy it." Salamander proposed, whispering quietly while examining the death flute in his hand.

"Why should I trust you if you actually indeed have it?" She whispered back harshly, not believing it one bit, but if she could get her hands on Lullaby…

"Just do it." He ordered, facing the man who appeared as if he was about to explode out of anger from being ignored.

"Happy and I stole Lullaby a long time ago. You think I would leave such a dangerous magical item from the Book of Zeref just lying around behind such a pathetic seal? The Lullaby you're holding is a _fake_!" Salamander claimed, brandishing the item only for Erza to finally worm her way out of his grip and swipe the item from his hand as planned.

"If this is the real Lullaby, then there's no reason for it to exist!" She said, raising her hand to destroy it.

Erigor could only make one decision and charged at Erza Scarlet in hopes to stop her and swipe the real Lullaby for himself.

A fire enveloped the entirety of Salamander before he lunged at Erigor and caught his cheek with such a powerful punch that it sent him hurtling through the platform they were standing on. Ending his rain in consciousness in a single blow. He caught the fake Lullaby that had flew from Erigor's grip and burnt it into cinders

Breathing a major sigh of relief, Salamander turned to face Erza and looked at her with a firm look and silently demanded the flute back.

She looked at the flute before a heavy sigh escaped her lips and held it out to Salamander with both hands.

He chuckled a little at the display. "You don't need to be so careful-" He stopped midsentence as his hand hovered over the broken Lullaby that she had broken before he could react.

She smirked lightly at seeing his anguish. "Oops."

But instead of anger, Salamander lunged at her and tackled her to the ground. Happy flying back into the building as the remains of the flute floated into the air and released an immensely powerful surge of magic. Enough to throw the two mages off the platform. He only just managed to avoid being crushed by Erza's whole body.

"I'M DONE WITH ALL YOU WEAK AND PATHETIC HUMANS!" A voice bellowed, loud enough to make both of them cover their ears.

"IT"S TIME I DESTROY THE ENTIRE LOT OF YOU!" It continued to bellow, an enormous creature made of trees utterly eclipsed the town with its sheer size the voice's origin.

"Salamander! What the hell is that thing!" Erza demanded, did he plan to sick this creature on some unsuspecting town?

Salamander didn't answer her, he could only stare completely transfixed on the creature as it began ravaging the town. Before a determined face appeared and he began walking towards the monstrosity.

"Salamander!" She demanded again, beginning to doubt his sanity. Did he believe he could take that thing down on his own in his condition? And she still didn't know what it was!

"Scarlet." He said quietly, catching her attention. "I'm going to lure this thing away from the town."

But the giant beast seemed to have noticed their conversation and quickly began to laugh. "AS IF IT WOULD MATTER! I'LL JUST PLAY MY LULLABY AND TAKE EVERYONE'S SOULS!"

This declaration made him so visibly angry that Erza could see him shake from there. "As if I'd let you do something so despicable…" Every fiber of his being was repulsed at the thought of all of the town's people dying. And in that moment, Erza could see how badly she had misjudged The Salamander. Perhaps he wasn't as bad as his reputation said, perhaps.

"Salamander! Erza!" Said Gray as he ran out of the building, looking both relieved and angry at the same time until he saw the giant creature observing them.

"Stripper, nice to see you. Do me a favor and get Scarlet and as many people as you can as far away from this thing as possible. Just consider this my last request." There was hardly any reason for him to think otherwise, this would be where he died

 _'But maybe this will finally make my dad proud. If I die to save the town.'_ He added as an afterthought.

"Sorry, but I'm not going to do that. Mira, Lucy, and your blue cat are already starting to evacuate the people. Plus, take a look over at that woman." Gray said, pointing towards the now standing Erza as she requiped into her Heaven's Wheel armor and stared defiantly at the both of them.

"I'm not going to make someone that wants to fight sit by the sidelines. Especially if it's someone who could be in a coma and still terrify me." Gray added with a small smile, before turning to face the giant demon of Zeref.

His fists clenched painfully tight and his face twisted in agony. "No! I don't care! No one is going to die on my watch! And that means you too! We were never enemies, I see you guys as friends! You aren't going to die-" His tirade was stopped suddenly when Gray socked him in the face.

"Shut up. We aren't going to die here. We sitting here in front of this demon and we're going to kick its ass. Right, Erza?" Gray said, not feeling comfortable hearing someone as renowned as the Salamander be consumed by his fears.

"While my stomach rolls at being called your friend, Gray is right Salamander. We are going to defeat this thing." Erza agreed, placing a supportive hand on his shoulder rather than Gray's crude face punch.

Salamander remained silent for a while before he suddenly sighed and faced the Lullaby demon with a determined look on his face before he brought his fists together.

"Fine, no one will die here because I'll kill this thing before it can! Team Salamander let's go!" He said, pointing at the creature as Erza and Gray stared at him in disgust.

 _'Team Salamander?!'_ The two of them stared at each other as if to confirm the other's suspicions and thoughts.

"Scarlet, you got a big hammer?" Salamander said, beginning to formulate a nice opener to their fight.

"Yes…why?" She asked tentatively.

"FINE! I WILL SIMPLY DESTROY YOU AND THEN I WILL TAKE-" Lullaby's ranting was interrupted by a fiery missile, that looked an awful lot like Salamander, slamming into its chest, knocking the giant creature off balance and making it slip on the ice Gray had created.

"You won't destroy anything! Team Salamander, KILL!" He shouted from on top of the downed creature's chest, fire swallowing up the entirety of his body.

Lullaby raged as he swung his massive arm at the man standing on his chest, only for it to be frozen in place. The moment of hesitation was all that was needed for Erza to bring her hammer down on the face of Lullaby. Making the creature yell out more in frustration than pain since it couldn't feel pain.

Salamander and Erza jumped back off the creature and regrouped now that they had openly begun their assault. Erza darted off to the right and Gray shot off to the right.

"Dance my blades!" She yelled, summoning weapons of all shape and sizes to fly at Lullaby.

"Ice Make: Freeze Lancer!" Gray yelled, sending out many large and razor sharp lances at Lullaby along with Erza.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Salamander yelled, sending his attack to meet with theirs and watched with satisfaction as their attacks all hit him and the large creature yelled out as a dust cloud eclipsed their sight that resulted from their explosive combination.

They paused momentarily, but Salamander was the unfortunate target of a foot aiming to squash him like a bug. He didn't have the time to dodge and was forced to throw his hands up to stop it. The foot came crashing down with a thunderous force and shook the very ground with its power.

"Salamander!" The two of them yelled, blasting the demon with spells to try and get it to raise its foot off of the man before it killed him.

"IT'S NO USE! YOU ARE ALL MAGGOTS UNDERNEATH MY FOOT! HE WAS LUCKY!" Lullaby yelled, laughing afterward as the two pests began blasting him again. But he refused to move his foot until he ground the puny mortal into paste.

"This isn't enough!" Came Salamander's voice from underneath the creature. Suddenly, fire began to completely envelop the entire foot in flames. Slowly it began to rise.

"THIS ISN'T ENOUGH TO KILL ME!" Salamander yelled, revealing himself to actually slowly be lifting the entirety of Lullaby's immense weight before throwing him off in a phenomenal show of strength.

"Erza! Throw your strongest fire spell at me!" Salamander yelled, visibly exhausted from throwing off Lullaby and not getting squashed. It was easily the heaviest thing he'd ever lifted.

Erza nodded and requiped into her Flame Empress and slowly gathered her strongest spell and hurled her giant fireball at Salamander. Completely engulfing the man in a fiery vortex similar to his impromptu fire tornado in the train station.

"Erza! What are you doing?!" Gray asked, not believing the feat of strength he'd just seen Salamander display or why his teammate just suddenly burned the other one alive.

"He's a dragon slayer Gray! He _eats_ fire!" No sooner did Erza explain this did all the fire begin flowing hastily into the man's mouth. Before it stopped and he wiped his mouth after finishing off his meal.

"All right! Now I'm fired up!" He said, smacking his fist together and magically gaining all of his strength back as Lullaby had finally picked itself back up. And boy, did it look _angry_.

"ENOUGH OF THIS! LISTEN TO MY LULLABY AS I SUCK OUT THE SOULS OF ALL OF YOU!" Lullaby shouted, having had enough of their impudent resistance and simply wished to murder them.

"NO!" They all yelled, rushing towards the demon only to hear a mediocre whistle emanate from the beast open maw.

Everyone was silent for a moment, before Lullaby exploded in rage. "MY SOUND! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BEAUTIFUL SOUND?!" It demanded to know, trembling with suppressed fury.

"All the holes we made…" Erza began, observing all of the chunks and holes they had created in Lullaby. "We ruined the aerodynamic design of the flute. In other words-" Salamander cut her off in his own excitement.

"HA! You're just a pathetic chunk of wood now you pathetic demon! If I knew I could do that then I would have dealt with you years ago!" Salamander was lost in his own laughter and despite the seriousness of the situation, Erza and Gray couldn't help but join in.

Lullaby screamed in rage. "NO MORE! I'LL SQUASH YOU ALL!"

He threw his hand to punch the tiny Salamander, but he avoided the punch and traveled up the demon's arm until he got in his face. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" He said, jumping and punching the, now pacified demon, hard enough to make it stumble.

"End it now!" He shouted to his allies, feeling Erza prepare her hammer.

"Erza!" Gray shouted, getting her attention by swinging his Ice Make: Hammer in a baseball like fashion. She got the idea and changed her stance.

Salamander turned and planted his feet and used the momentum to once again launch himself at the other hammer, after launching off Gray's hammer immediately after, he had become a human blur.

He spun incredibly fast, far faster than he'd ever spun before and became a fire vortex. With him only being a small bit in the center.

"Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!" The attack hit with such force that Salamander completely pierced through Lullaby. But the fire stayed there and completely burnt Lullaby to ashes.

"NOOOOoooo…" Were Lullaby's last words before it was destroyed by Team Salamander.

Gray and Erza regrouped with Salamander and Gray couldn't help but clap their hands together with a stupid grin on his face.

"We did it! What'd I tell you?"

"I never knew that thing was so weak! I would have done that a while ago if I knew!"

"That last combo attack was awesome! You aren't such a bad dude after all!"

"I've been trying to tell you that for a while now!"

Erza was hesitant to break up the celebration, in actuality she felt like celebrating herself, but things needed to be set straight between the three of them.

"If you guys ever need help again just ask, that was awesome!" Salamander said, shocking the two mages into silence with his declaration.

Erza frowned before she shook her head, but she wasn't able to get the words out of her mouth as a blue missile came rocketing past her and tackled the pink haired mage.

"Wahhh! Natsu! I was so worried about you!" The blue cat said tearfully, openly crying in relief that his best friend was okay.

"Happy! You're all right too!" Salamander said, not noticing that his name had been slipped by both of them in their worry for one another.

"Natsu?" Erza asked, connecting the dots together and realizing that this was something he had purposefully tried to hide. Natsu, where had she heard that name before?

Salamander froze before he slowly looked away from Happy with a look of worry. "What about it? That dead mage from six years ago right?" He said worriedly, he couldn't be making it more obvious that he had some sort of relation with the man.

Erza was about to call him on his lie, but stopped herself when she remembered that he had saved the entire town at his own expense. So to even her debt with the Salamander, she decided to keep it to herself.

"Yes, you're right. Nothing to worry about." Erza answered, subtly winking and telling him she wouldn't tell anyone.

"Who's Natsu?" Gray asked, scratching his head in confusion.

Salamander looked back and for the between them before he smiled. "I like you both a little bit more now you know that?"

"Get away from me." Gray said, moving a step away from the man.

He laughed lightly at the action, he really did like these two a lot. They were cool people, but he really had to leave and that made him particularly sad. At least he'd actually managed to make friends outside of Happy.

"I got to go guys. If I'm around when people start getting questioned and Salamander is spotted here and recognized, then the council will have the perfect opportunity to blame this on me. So I'll be seeing you guys some other time." Salamander said, turning to leave before Gray spoke up.

"Wait, why don't you stay here and let the rune knights interrogate you? It could let you clear your past crimes if we stick up for you. You did save this town after all."

The question occurred to Erza as well, why didn't he do that? They could do that much for him at least. Perhaps it had something to do with Natsu…gods where did she hear that damn name?

"I'm sorry, but The Salamander has more beef with the council then even the council knows. If I'm captured and interrogated by them, I'd be killed. No questions asked. I'd just fade away." Salamander said, turning away and giving a simple wave goodbye to both of his friends before he sprinted away from the scene and disappeared into the forest.

Away from the group, a particular man drenched in a cloak sat behind a wall. His intention had been to investigate Erza and see what she was up to, but this turned out to be _much_ more wonderful. Could Salamander really be Natsu Dragneel? Oh if he was then he just might have to change his plans.

 _'I might not need you anymore Erza.'_ He thought with a dark chuckle as he left the city silently to investigate Salamander on his own.

* * *

 **A/N: Boom! Everlue and Lullaby in one go! Most of the chapters probably won't be quite this long, maybe if that specific chapter is super long in canon then maybe. But I did this one mainly because I didn't like these first two arcs in the show. But they were still good. So who knows.**

 **But anyway, can anyone guess who the figure at the end was? He will play a big part (obviously) in the future and I dropped a tiny hint on who he was and what Natsu's secret could be, but they're both kind of the same hint though...**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed and have a good night, day, whatever.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Holy moly, this thing is huge! Believe it or not I actually cut the chapter down a little bit to make it a readable size.**

 **But I would like to remind the people reading to vote on the poll, my apologies actually, I never put one up before and now it's actually visible. Make sure to vote because if at least twenty people don't vote by the 19th then I'll just go the way I want because I won't change it on a minority. I'm not the government! Just kidding just kidding.**

 **Anyway, please enjoy this behemoth. I tried to make it less bleh, then before. More humorous like the show. Also, after this, the differences from Canon really start to show up.**

* * *

Salamander had gotten the idea stuck in his mind that he was going to be held responsible one way or another for the Lullaby incident. So he had taken to bumming around the slums of Era for a bit as the council did its 'investigation' and only stay long enough to satisfy his curiosity. He really did need to thank those two Fairy Tail wizards though, now he didn't have to lose sleep over Lullaby anymore.

"I'm hungry." Happy said, whining from atop Salamander's head and striking several poses as if he was dying of hunger.

"I know, just a little longer." Salamander attempted to comfort his friend. He was close to giving up as no information regarding him had surfaced from any newspapers or conversation snippets he'd overheard with his sensitive ears.

"But I'm hungry now…" Happy droned on, continuing his incessant complaining.

"Happy please."

The two of them were about to devolve into an argument when a carriage, carrying something of importance from all the security, slowly rolled by as several citizens pointed and whispered. Something he continued to thank them for silently. Honestly, Cobra of Oracion Seis was renowned for his hypersensitive ears. So why did they continually spill potentially secret information?

 _'Morons.'_ Salamander thought to himself. He was quite happy with his choice to hide in an alley, he recognized that black haired glasses wearing council asshole anywhere, luckily he wouldn't recognize _him_.

"Is that the prisoner from Lullaby?" He heard.

"Don't know, but one of my friends in Magnolia told me something like that. Apparently it was someone from Fairy Tail from what he heard." The one nearby said.

Meanwhile, Salamander stared at the retreating carriage with a sweatdrop on his face.

 _'Fairy Tail again? You have got to be kidding me…hey wait, only four people from Fairy Tail were there with me. So they didn't rat me out, which is nice, but only Gray and Erza fought Lullaby with me…well shit. Look like I have to flex my espionage muscles.'_

He knew better than to break whoever it was out of prison, which is where they would end up, but if it came down to it…he could take the rap for it. After all, they were his friends now and he said so himself that no one messed with his friends. But was he willing to risk blowing his secret to everybody? Yeah, yeah he was.

But while that was all well and noble of him, he had to get into the council building before he could do anything like that.

"Let's see what adventure awaits us Happy. Fly me to the council building, stealthily please." He almost forgot to tell Happy to be stealthy about it, if he didn't, the hyper active feline was completely incapabable of being silent.

"But I'm-"

"Whatever you want, I will get."

"Aye sir!"

As if the previous exhaustion from hunger didn't even exist, Happy lifted Salamander off the ground and flew them through all sorts of alleyways to keep out of sight before finally making it to the top of the council building.

"Nice one Happy."

"Aye!"

He couldn't feel any magic from his friends, but they were the council and would almost certainly place the criminal they were dragging to a trial, which is the only reasons criminals were taken to the council building in the first place, in magic restraint cuffs. So he placed his head to the ground and tried to sniff out any familiar scent.

He was looking for two scents, metallic strawberries and ice. Strangely, that was all Gray smelt of. Probably because his magic usually was in contact with him like Erza's.

And he found them.

He smirked in victory before slowly crawling along the roof and following the two scents until they stopped suddenly. They must have been at a door, but they stopped longer than was required to unlock any door. He didn't smell any new scents so they weren't conversing with anyone, so why did they stop?

He'd had enough of the stealth act and simply decided to peak in through a window on the roof nearby and craned his neck to look back farther in the hallway where they stopped and smirked at the sight. The two of them were there and were talking to…Siegrain if his memory was right. But he seemed to be up in Erza's face for some reason.

The council was at least smart enough to soundproof the building. Too bad they didn't smellproof it.

Now that he confirmed it was those two, all he needed to know now was why they were here. Siegrain suddenly vanished from the front of the two of them and motioned to a door behind him. So that was where the council was.

"Looks like they're all thought projections, that's nice. At least they can't catch me if they aren't here." Salamander said to his friend, much of his fear alleviated now that he knew at least Siegrain wasn't there. That man was one of the few people who could probably handle him on his own and capture him without his boosters. He didn't know the council very well besides that man since he was the only one he'd ever come in contact with. He assumed they were at least around his strength.

"Aye! Let's save them!" Happy said, opening the window and jumping in.

"Happy no!" Salamander exclaimed worriedly, grabbing his friend out of the air and yanking him back outside.

But unfortunately, that stunt had just allowed the group of four to see him. Leaving two confused frogs and two Fairy Tail wizards with wide eyes.

"Who was that? Should we call it in?" One of the frog escorts said to his friend nearby who shrugged.

"Ah it's probably just a kid with his cat. They're always messing with this place." The other one answered.

But both of the wizards knew full well who had just nearly fell in.

"Erza, he really wouldn't do that would he?" Gray asked quietly to his comrade, hoping beyond hope Salamander didn't do something as idiotic as breaking them out of their false arrest.

But Erza remained quiet and returned to her angry face. Though it wasn't just annoyance anymore, there was genuine anger, if the vein about to burst on her head was any inclination.

 _'Why is he here? Of all places…'_

Gray wisely shut his mouth and simply kept walking to avoid invoking Erza's unfathomable wrath. She was more than terrifying even without her magic.

Salamander sweat dropped at the glare on Erza's face, he was really glad he grabbed Happy but now he wished he didn't bring him along. At least they knew he was there.

Eventually, the group went into room, leaving behind the same man from before who lead the carriage. As well as a different man with an assortment of scars on the left of his face he couldn't place the name of, but it was right on the tip of his tongue.. Well, he better get a move on if he wanted to do anything.

So, Salamander removed his scarf and wrapped it around his face. No one on the council knew who he was, but they most certainly would know if he showed his face. After all, there was no _official_ record of Salamander's appearance, simply rumor and misdirection when he would occasionally use transformation magic to keep people guessing. And the council couldn't link him to his real name just by showing up.

He gave Happy a thumbs up and the cat followed him down as he landed with a thud in front of the two council mages. They immediately took up defensive positions, but hesitated with calling reinforcements. After all, he might just simply leave if they called immediately.

"You." Salamander said, pointing to the scarred man. "What's your name?"

"That voice…"

"Why would I tell you?" The man said, feeling a unknown sense of dread.

"Well, I know his name. It's Lahar." Salamander began, pointing to the glasses wearing man. "And he knows my name, so what's yours?"

"Is that you Salamander?" He was already moving to call reinforcements.

"Yeah, but I'll leave if you tell me what's going on in there. But before that, seriously what is your name?" He insisted, pointing towards the scarred man.

The two men didn't lower their guards, but were relieved to know that such a powerful criminal at least _appeared_ to have no bad intentions.

"It's Doranbolt. And what's going on in the council chambers is none of your business." Doranbolt, answered.

"Huh. Figured you'd say that." Salamander said, walking up to the two and placing an ear to the door to listen in, casually elbowing Doranbolt in the face when he attempted to grab him and knocking Lahar's skull into the wall and knocking both men unconscious.

"This probably won't help my reputation, but I couldn't let them call reinforcements." Salamander mused to himself before turning to his friend with a nervous look. "That was the right thing to do, right Happy?"

Said cat simply shrugged his shoulders and followed his friends actions and tried to listen in on the council meeting.

A sudden thought occurred to Salamander. "You know, if they're punishing people for Lullaby, it is actually technically Erza's fault." He said sighing once he started to realize the room was soundproofed.

"Stop right there!" Salamander turned to face the voice, but only had several armed guards shoving several sharp objects aimed at his throat. Happy found himself in the same situation.

"Hey now guys, I haven't done anything wrong. I'm just listening in on the trial." Salamander said defensively, he really didn't want to fight his way out of this but it was starting to look like he didn't have much of a choice. He guessed Lahar actually managed to call in the reinforcements before he knocked his ass out.

"Explain the unconscious guards at your feet then!" There wasn't really any explanation to be found, he'd just simply knocked them out and they knew that full well.

"Would you believe they fainted?"

"No!"

Salamander moved back from the guards, but they simply stepped closer each time he moved away. He didn't realize how close he was to the door and fell backwards rather harshly and fell through it. Stopping the council chairman mid sentence.

"Who is this?" The large old man replied, motioning to the prone masked man who froze on the spot as he looked upon the entirety of the council.

Siegrain caught the smallest glimpse of pink locks before the man readjusted his scarf and he almost burst out laughing. Salamander was actually trying to save these two? He'd never had to try and hold back his laughter so hard before.

"Uh, I'm a…uh…salesman?" Salamander said weakly, finally noticing the death glare Erza was giving him, for some reason his blood turned to ice even though he _knew_ he was stronger. He got the message that they did not associate with him at all right now.

"No you're not! This man was trying to break into the trial!" One of the guards who knocked him into the room said.

He jumped to his feet in defense, turning to face the council. "I was not! I was just trying to listen in! Those guards attacked me first after I asked politely to be allowed to hear."

Siegrain snorted before he covered his mouth and reel in his laughter and keep from drawing attention to himself. This was the best council trial he'd ever been to.

"I see." The chairman said slowly. Processing how someone had managed to sneak into the council chamber _and_ knock out both Lahar and Doranbolt without a single person knowing.

"Hey, uh, you know since this didn't work out the way I wanted it to I'm just gonna go ahead and leave. Nice seeing you all." Salamander said nervously, turning around and falling back onto his ass when several guards tried to skewer him.

Siegrain couldn't hold his laughter in anymore and laughed uncontrollably from his seat. Smacking his hand onto the table in a hopeless effort to get himself under control.

"I can't take it anymore! This is hilarious!" Siegrain said in between laughing and catching his breath.

Salamander began sweating, it was obvious Siegrain knew who he was. But how the hell did he figure it out? And why the hell was he laughing he was in trouble!

"What's so funny buddy?" He demanded, pointing an accusatory finger at the man.

Siegrain eventually got his laughter under control, but for the life of him he couldn't be serious anymore.

"Nothing. I'm sorry. What did you want to say before you fell in?" Siegrain had a shit eating grin on his face the entirety of the time. He had Salamander in the palm of his hand and that's exactly what he wanted.

"Um, well, how many of you know who I am?" He'd just up and do it. The repercussions wouldn't be that bad right? The Fairy Tail wizards had made sure Lullaby didn't kill even a single person.

The councilman all looked back and forth at each other asking hushed questions before they all eventually decided that they didn't know.

"Well I suppose I better just get to the point. Happy come here."He said, motioning for the cat to come closer. When he did he picked up the cat wordlessly and pointed at the window.

"Is that window reinforced?" He asked, still pointing to the window and holding the cat out at arms length.

"Yes, why?" Siegrain answered, curious to how he was going to get himself out of this. This room had magic nullifiers all over it. He didn't have much of a chance at escaping honestly.

"A few reasons. One, this cat keeps following me and bothering me for disgusting fish. Two, I want to hurt him. Three, I want to look awesome." Salamander explained before dropping Happy and punting him through the window with a cry of terror.

Siegrain was honestly surprised, that window was reinforced as well as Salamander was weakened from being in the room. He really might be a problem in the future.

"Well that takes care of him. So I should probably explain why I'm here. To be absolutely sure I'm not following the wrong people, They're being punished for Lullaby right? The giant demon who destroyed whatever town I was in?" He said, pretending to not be interested in the slightest

Erza's glare was replaced with a look of shock. Gray was still putting the pieces together but the two of them had synchronized thoughts at the moment.

 _'What the hell are you doing Salamander?'_

"Yes they are, what does that have to do with anything?" The chairman responded, could this be the actual man responsible for the Lullaby incident?

"That's good to know. These two Fairies over here can't be responsible because I'm the one responsible. And I want to make one thing clear." Salamander said before lighting his hand in flames and getting up in both Gray and Erza face, lifting Erza by her armor and Gray by his shirt.

"That Salamander _doesn't_ like when his thunder is stolen." He gave both of the confused mages a genuine smile before he threw them harshly against the stand.

"Salamander?!" The room echoed, just saying he was responsible was more than enough to convince them if he added his name onto it.

Siegrain was honestly taken aback. Salamander was willing to actually tarnish his reputation this badly over people he considered his friends? He did know that these two pretty much despised him right? But, he had an act to keep up so he suddenly lurched from his chair and stood up.

"Apprehend that man at once!" He wanted to make his act convincing, so he wore a mask of worry that really looked out of place on his face, but looked just perfect for the situation

"I bid you adieu." Salamander said, before suddenly rocketing off through the window he'd thrown Happy out of previously with jets of fire propelling from his feet.

"Erza." Gray asked amidst the confusion. "Did he just actually do that?" If Gray had any doubts that the Salamander was a genuinely good person, then they had just been wiped away.

"Yes, yes he did. He's an absolute idiot. A gold hearted idiot." Erza said, a small smile on her face. He just made his life immensely more difficult just for their sake. She wondered what he would have done if he had known this was an arrest with no meaning.

* * *

Two Weeks Later

* * *

"All it took was a single day for Salamander's bounty to jump from one million to fifty million jewels." Salamander said while lounging next to the campfire he'd set up. He sighed there was no way in hell he was going to be able to enter any town without being spotted. Hell, they were even offering the reward for information leading to his capture, the council wanted him _that_ bad.

"It was for a good reason though!" Happy attempted to cheer up his friend. It wasn't like him to regret his actions. Especially when his friends are concerned.

"I know, but now we have to hide out on this stupid cursed island for who knows how long. Did you see those villagers? Scared the shit out of me." He'd agreed to help the villagers, but he couldn't make himself stay in that village until they weren't demons anymore. Mainly because if one went berserk in the middle of the night and got him while he was asleep he would be pissed.

"Aye. But why did they say the moon is purple?" Happy asked, still confused after they'd been told in the village that the moon was purple.

"I don't know, but at least the moon here is really pretty." He said, yawning and stretching his tired limbs as he gazed at the brilliantly shining moon. At least it was a good place to lay low.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me. You pop up _literally_ everywhere we go." There was _no_ way that Salamander was here, on Galuna Island, of all the places.

"No way. You're here stripper?" He said with a smile, getting up and flashing a smile towards the familiar man who visibly twitched from the nickname.

"More importantly, why are you here?" Gray said, he wasn't upset at seeing the man, more curious than anything.

Salamander was about to answer until he noticed that there was a third member of the conversation simply staring at him dumbly. "Oh, hey Lucy. Nice to see you too."

The woman in question smiled awkwardly and gave a small wave.

He nodded at the greeting, he didn't know her that well either. "Back to the question, I'm hiding here on the cursed island. You know, while I wait for the heat to cool off for the council incident with you and Scarlet."

"Well that makes sense. We're here for a mission to help the villagers with some sort of curse." Gray answered, he and Lucy had swiped the mission last night and planned to complete it. Well, he more or less dragged Lucy here against her will.

"Oh wow really? Happy, we're working with Fairy Tail again." Salamander said with a smile, motioning for his friend to stop sitting by awkwardly.

"Hello stripper!" Happy said with a small wave, excited to work with his new friends.

"Stop calling me that! And why are you working with us?" He snapped, already beginning to suspect that the terrible nickname would be the only way he'd ever be addressed by the two again.

"The villagers already asked me to. Let's go, with me here, you guys don't have to worry about a thing!" Salamander chirped happily as he stomped out the fire.

"Hey, um, Salamander. Remember when you took the blame for the Lullaby incident?" Lucy said suddenly, poking her fingers together in embarrassment.

"Yeah, what about it?" He said, missing Gray's guilty look.

"Gray and Erza feel too bad to tell you so I have to." He heard the part where she mumbled under her breath about Gray and Erza being 'controlling terrifying monsters'.

"You see, they weren't going to get punished because it was all for show." She said hurriedly, hiding behind her teammate and poking her head out from behind him.

"It was for show?" Salamander said slowly.

"Yeah, we weren't actually going to be punished for it. They just needed to show they could still control the world of magic and used us as scapegoats." Gray clarified, he began feeling worried at what kind of reaction The Salamander could have.

"Oh…so I basically did that for nothing?" He said in realization, no inkling of concern in his voice.

Gray and Lucy blinked in unison. He wasn't upset? How could he not be upset?

Salamander grinned happily. "All right so it wasn't for any real reason! But I protected my friends, and that is what I will always do! It doesn't matter if it makes my life a living hell!" He gave the both of them a wink and a thumbs up.

"After all, isn't that what friends are supposed to do?" He said this without dropping the smile on his face, and his smile became contagious as Gray and Lucy were soon sporting identical ones.

"All right fine. I'll be your friend if your _that_ insistent on being it." Gray said, shaking the Salamander's hand and his hand flaring up and coating the two of their arms in ice.

"But don't think that I won't pay you back for our first fight matchstick!"

Salamander grinned predatorily before copying Gray's actions and coating his hands in fire. The two of them continually struggled back and forth as their magic fought for dominance.

"Bring it on stripper! I relish a good fight!"

Meanwhile, on the side Lucy was beginning to feel ignored. "Am I not important enough?" She said sadly.

"Sucks doesn't it?" Happy said, sitting on top of her head as he sighed, already used to being ignored.

"Get off my head you stupid cat." Lucy said, angrily reaching for the now floating cat as he hovered just out of her reach.

"What? Would you rather me sit on your fat rolls?" Happy lamented, causing the two feuding men to stop and stare.

"What. Did. You. Say?" Lucy said, taking extra time to enunciate every single word.

"You know what I said. You need to go on a diet."

Salamander began sweating lightly as the cat believed he was invincible while he was out of her reach. "Happy, you know she has a whip right?"

*CRACK*

"Oh that looked like it hurt." Gray said, cowering behind his hands lightly.

*CRACK**CRACK*

"I feel I should stop her." Salamander said, flinching at every crack of the whip.

*CRACK**CRACK**CRACK*

"But you're too terrified?" Gray finished for him.

*CRACK**CRACK*

"Pretty much. Are all your women like that when they get angry?" Salamander asked, beginning to wonder when she would stop whipping the shit out of his friend.

*CRACK**CRACK**CRACK*

"Ha. Erza is one hundred times worse." Gray said with no attempt at hiding the terror in his voice.

*CRACK*

"I feel for you dude. I'm guessing they aren't the ones who put out often do they?"

Lucy finally stopped whipping Happy to death and turned to glare daggers at Salamander.

"What the hell did you just say?" She demanded.

Salamander put his hands up in a defensive gesture, terrified of her wrath.

"Hey I did-*CRACK*-AH MY FACE!" He yelled out, clutching at the fresh wound mark.

"Haha! Serves you-*CRACK*- AH! WHY'D YOU HIT ME?" Gray said coddling the wound on his cheek.

"Don't think I didn't hear you two talking about me!" She didn't hear the topic, but all she heard was Salamander's comment about her not 'putting out'.

"I didn't say anything! Salamander-*CRACK*-AH! MY DICK! WHY'D YOU WHIP ME IN THE DICK?" Gray lamented, clutching at his bruised testicles and rolling on the ground in agony.

Salamander said nothing at this point. He just simply curled up into a ball and protected his body to the best of his ability.

* * *

After Some Time

* * *

"All she needed…all Erza needed was just one…just one fucking comment about how rowdy the guild was…" Gray wheezed out, life flashing before his eyes.

"What are you…saying?" Salamander was in an even worse state, but was able to hold on.

"And Erza taught her everything she knew…" Gray then passed out and left Salamander on his own to deal with Lucy's whippings.

"Oi! Don't you quit on me you stripping fucktard! Get up and take this beating with me like a man!" Salamander cried at seeing the unconscious body of his friend. Shaking him repeatedly to rouse him.

"Quit talking!" Lucy screeched, strecthcing her whip menacingly.

"Spare me please…"

* * *

More Than a Little Later

* * *

The three eventually made their way to the village so they could bum there and the villagers wouldn't throw them out. But as soon as they got there, Lucy's face paled and Gray jumped slightly. As soon as the elder came closer to the group Lucy straight up passed out from terror.

"God damn it. She just whipped us to death and the villagers make her pass out?" Salamander grumbled to himself, he didn't want to offend the villagers anymore since they were already sensitive.

It didn't take long to rouse Lucy from unconsciousness and for the villagers to explain their curse to the two newcomers. But this time, at the end of their speech, the moon did in fact turn purple.

"The moon's purple!" Lucy pointed out, causing the two mages to look up and become surprised. Salamander hadn't seen the moon become purple in the week he'd been there, and then his friends show up and bam the moon is purple.

 _'I'm beginning to think you guys are cursed as well.'_ He thought to himself, glancing over at the two mages as he gazed at them with a look of envy. Exciting things happened around these guys all the time.

"That isn't the only thing, look!" Gray pointed at a large beam of light flowing down from the moon and focusing on a specific point on the island.

The three, uh four counting Happy, of them looked back and forth at one another before nodding. They all left and began running towards the light. It didn't take them terribly long before they ran into some sort of ancient ruins.

"Happy could fly one of us up there but the other two are going to have to weave through these ruins." Salamander said, not really considering _if_ the ancient ruins could be traversed.

"That might be a bad idea. Who knows what could be going on up there or if they have traps." Lucy pointed out as the three of them went inside.

"Hmm, good point. Ruins it is then. Man I am _not_ used to working with people, usually I would have just done that and bulldozed my way out of any problems." Salamander joked before he tripped on a piece of broken support column. Causing Gray to openly point and laugh.

"Son of a bitch! All I do is fall over shit! I bet you this floor is about to give way too!" Salamander said angrily, stomping on the floor of the ruins to prove his point.

"Don't joke about that!" Gray said hurriedly, making the Salamander stop smacking his foot on the floor with a pout on his face as he was forced to stop.

"All right fine." He said, grumbling something about ruins being stupid.

As if the ruins themselves responded to the insult, the floor around them suddenly caved in, leaving only Happy who had pulled out his wings to float down and watch them fall.

"SALAMANDER YOU DUMBASS!" Gray shouted as they fell. Lucy mirrored his feelings and felt no reason to repeat herself, but she did anyway out of anger.

"IT's NOT MY FAULT!" He weakly defended as the ground came closer at a rapid rate.

He hit the ground with a solid thud as all the air in his lungs as well as the feeling from the severe impact.

But the feeling came right in once Gray and Lucy took turns landing on him.

"Why…" He wheezed out as his ribs cried in agony from being pulverized.

"Because you're an idiot." Lucy answered for the both of them, looking around at the tunnel system they found themselves in. "Now what do we do?"

"We just walk, come on let's check this place out, maybe this will help us find out why the stupid villagers asked us to destroy the moon." Salamander said, walking in a random direction until Gray and Lucy sighed before following him.

They suddenly came onto a large open area in the caves before Salamander suddenly held his nose. "It smells like death in here so bad it's all I can smell." He had a hard time entering the room, but Gray simply shoved him in, much to his annoyance.

"It can't be that-" All of Gray's words died in his mouth as he stared at the giant ice block in the center of the cavern as his memories flooded to the surface.

"Deliora…" Gray whispered, he couldn't believe he was seeing this monster again.

"Gray. I only caught the end of that, but did you say that thing in there is Deliora?" Salamander asked, his face steadily becoming more and more angry.

"Wait, what's Deliora?" Lucy asked, unsure of why her two teammates were acting so weird all of a sudden.

He didn't bother replying but just simply walked to the end of the drop off and Deliora become even clearer. It was here, this horrid creature is here.

"Judging by your reaction, it is. But why is it here though? I thought it was stored up north?" Salamander asked, he would have found this thing on his own eventually and tried his hand at killing it, but he learned it was frozen in Ice Shell by some woman named Ur so it was good enough.

Gray snapped out of his trance and looked back at the dragon slayer, his face tinged with a bit of anger. "How do you know that Salamander? Only a few people knew about that."

"Everything that involves Zeref and his damn demons involves me. That's all you need to know, what I want to know is what your relationship with this thing is. Judging by your face it can't be good." He answered, him and Gray may be friends now, but that didn't equate to knowing everything about his past. He'd tell them one day, but it wasn't now.

Gray was silent for a minute as he looked back up at the demon that ruined his life before he turned back with a slightly shaky voice. "Deliora destroyed my hometown when I was a child. He killed everyone in the town, including my parents, and left me the sole survivor. That was when my master, the one who taught me Ice Make magic, found me buried underneath part of my house."

Salamander, Happy, and Lucy looked at each other with a bit of surprise, for someone as jovial as Gray was, they didn't expect him to have such a tragic past.

When they said nothing he continued. "After that, I demanded Ur train me after I heard she was super strong. I needed to become stronger than this monster behind us to avenge my parents and as soon as he was spotted again, I went out and tried to kill him."

"Gray…" Lucy was at a loss for words, she couldn't think of anything to say to help ease the mind of her clearly distressed friend.

"I'm guessing it didn't go well."

Gray shook his head solemnly, the emotions that tied his mind to the event almost overflowing into the open. "It didn't. I was so young and angry at Deliora and he was so much more powerful than I imagined. Just as I was about to die, Ur saved me and fought Deliora…she lost and had to freeze this thing behind me with Iced Shell. She said…it was to free me of my darkness. After that I wandered for a while and eventually wound up at Fairy Tail."

The air was thick with tension, but none of them had missed the strange purple glow at the top of the Deliora's frozen glacier. Salamander had particularly refused to lift his eyes from that spot ever since Gray started his story before his eyes widened slightly.

"Gray, Iced Shell is unmeltable right?" He said, eyes glued to a specific spot.

"Yeah, why?" He answered back still reeling in his emotions from that day.

"It's melting." He finished by pointing to the top of the glacier where it was clear to everyone where a huge droplet of water slid down the entire thing before adding to the large pool of water that completely encircled the frozen body of Deliora.

The situation dawned on them all immediately, and the aura of pure murderous intent that appeared around Gray was enough to make even Salamander sweat. But before any of them could act, Salamander heard with his sensitive ears what sounded like voices.

"Quick! Hide! Someone's coming!" He quickly pushed the two surprised mages behind a large boulder and Happy followed them before they peeked out to have a look at the three people who walked into the cave.

"After so many long years of waiting, Moon Drip will finally completely melt the ice holding Deliora!" A man, who had eyebrows so large they came off his head, said.

At this the aura of killing intent around Gray increased even more, so much that Salamander was sure Lucy was going to wet herself.

"And our mighty leader Reitei-sama will strike down that monster Deliora for us!" A woman with magenta hair said, obviously infatuated with whoever Reitei was.

"Wait a damn minute." Gray whispered harshly. "Reitei is thawing Deliora…so he can fight him?" The mist from his Ice Make magic had nearly enveloped his entire hand at his almost overwhelming urge to beat the three people into a pulp.

The third one simply shook his head in agreement with the two before he scratched his head. The third man looked an awful lot like a dog, Salamander would later comment he smelt like one too. "What about those three intruders Reitei-sama told us about? Where do you think they are?"

The man with enormous eyebrows shrugged. "It's of little consequence, we will find them and if we don't it isn't like they could stand up to Reitei-sama anyway." The three of them left shortly afterward after watching to make sure Deliora's melting was going smoothly.

"Before we start kicking ass, does anyone know what Moon Drip is?" Salamander asked, he knew a lot about forbidden spells, but Moon Drip was something he didn't even know existed.

"I think I know." Lucy began, drawing the two mages, and cat's, attention. "If I'm right, Moon Drip is basically just taking the moon's natural magic dilution property and collecting it all before it magnifies it to be able to disperse any known magic." By the end, Lucy was beaming that she knew something the famed Salamander didn't.

Salamander whistled in appreciation. "Two things Gray, either Iced Shell is unbelievably strong, or your master was just _that_ much of a badass to withstand something like that for such a long time."

"Damn right she is." Gray answered, smiling smugly before his anger from before took over again.

"I'll use my nose to follow those three out of these damn caves. Then we find this Reitei guy and we just kick his fucking ass." The dragon slayer said, beginning to walk away as the others followed him.

"Dibs." Gray called out.

Salamander paused for a moment before swearing. "Dammit, I forgot to call dibs. Cheeky bastard."

"You would of let me fight him anyway."

"True. You kind of deserve it."

But he silently thought to himself something that bothered him. _'If this guy thinks he's tough enough to beat Deliora on his own…then he's out of Gray's league. Or he's crazy. I'll bail him out if things get tough.'_

It took them some time to silently leave the caves without letting the three people know they were being tailed. But eventually they made it out of the caves and silently crept up the ruins until they found themselves at the peak where some sort of ritual was being carried out by a ton of cloaked individuals chanting some mysterious language that was dragging the moon's light into a magical circle.

"Well, we figured out what's going on. Looks like that dude in the cloak and mask is our Reitei. Ready when you are Gray." Salamander said, he'd already discussed a small plan where he and Lucy would stop the ritual while Gray took a swing at the head honcho.

Just as they were about to move, Reitei suddenly spoke to the three from the cave. "Deliora will unfreeze tomorrow. We no longer need the village, take them out along with the wizards sent here to help them."

"Dammit!" They cursed, now what could they do? Salamander was hesitant to let Gray deal with Reitei alone, but he and Lucy needed to save the village since she wasn't good enough to go up against someone like this and offer actual support yet.

When the three nodded and took off on a giant rat, Salamander just decided to wing it.

"Hey fuckboys!" He yelled, standing from his position as Gray got up and glared at Reitei while cracking his knuckles, preparing for a beatdown.

"Surprise!" Salamander then coated his arms in fire and brought them down on the ritual casters, but most of them escaped unharmed and ran off.

"Who are you?" Reitei asked bored, three wizards who didn't know stealth if it bit them in the ass were really of no concern to him.

"Gray here is gonna kick your ass while I go and kick your lackeys' asses!" He proclaimed flipping the man the bird while Gray continued to glare vehemently. But he hesitated slightly as something ate at him.

"Hmm." He said quietly before he suddenly froze the pink haired man in an ice ball before throwing several birds made of ice at his head, which all connected with his face.

"Gray if you don't kick his ass right now I will do it." Salamander missed the recognition on Gray's face which allowed Reitei to create an ice snake to pull his feet out from underneath him and drag and roll him off the cliffside.

"Happy! Fly Lucy to the village!" Salamander ordered as he fell, his loud expletives every time he smacked his head into the ground slowly dying out as the distance increased.

Suddenly the two ice wizards were left alone, but Gray knew that ice magic far too well to ever possibly mistake it. "Is that you Lyon?"

* * *

A Little Later

* * *

How he managed to stop himself, let alone manage to stand on his feet again, was a complete mystery. But all he knew right now, was that Reitei would be on the receiving end of fiery ass kicking if he ever saw him again.

"Can't believe an Ice Make Wizard _that_ weak is trying to fight Deliora. He's gonna get pulverized…I guess that makes it more embarrassing that he pulled one over on me like that. Now, which way is the village?" Salamander said, using his magic to heat up the ball of ice until it shattered into pieces so he could move normally.

He sighed heavily. "Where the hell am I?"

* * *

One Hour Later

* * *

He'd wondered for maybe an hour before he gave up and started trekking back to the top of the summit he'd gotten knocked down from with a resounding sigh. He'd gotten hopelessly lost.

"Well, I guess I better check up on that stripper and see how he did." Salamander said to himself. He'd seen Gray go all out before against him, and he hit pretty hard and could take a decent punch before he quit. So Salamander respected his strength, but he was mortified to find Gray's unmoving body at the top of the summit all alone as if he'd been utterly dominated.

"Shit! Gray! Answer me buddy, wake the hell up!" He said worry for his friend outweighing the anger he felt at one of his friends being hurt like this.

He was immensely relieved when Gray opened his eyes and noted how his wounds bled much less than they should have. He saw that they just looked like really bad wounds.

"You all right?" He asked softly, hefting the man onto his shoulders when he failed to stand.

"I'm a disgrace…" He said, confusing Salamander greatly. Where did all that fire and anger go from earlier?

"You aren't a disgrace. How did you lose? That guy was only a little above your level, you should have been able to win." Salamander reasoned, beginning the run back to the village to get his friend medical treatment as soon as possible.

"Lyon was there…he was…Ur's other disciple…" He wheezed, his breath and voice shaky.

"I see, he used your grief against you didn't he? That just proves he's a coward. You're master died to save you, if that doesn't mean she loved you then I don't know what will. It's not your fault something like Deliora exists, it's his fault she died, not yours."

Gray couldn't stay conscious for very long and eventually the exhaustion from the fight caught up to him and he passed out. Salamander ran the last twenty minutes to the village in silence.

"Hey! Open up! I need in! Gray needs some medical help!" He yelled once he finally made it to the village, relieved that it wasn't under siege at the moment.

"Salamander! Wait! Stop Walking!" Lucy attempted to warn him, but it was too late.

"Good thing I made it-" Salamander was suddenly cut off when he fell inside a perfectly camouflaged pitfall which he fell into. Thankfully, the wounded Gray landed on him instead of the other way around.

He climbed out of the pit without a word and continued as if nothing happened. "Good thing I made it in time, someone take him and fix him up. I need him alive."

Immediately, someone came up an grabbed Gray from his hands. But they weren't able to get far before Salamander smelt what could only be described as liquid fire. But in his terms, that equated to acid.

He looked in the sky out of curiosity, why had he smelt such a thing? But he found his answer when he saw the large flying rat again dangling the acidic substance he could smell. He always hated smelling acid, left his nose sore for a while.

He could only think of a single solution to the problem in time. "EVERYONE! GET TO CENTER OF TOWN RIGHT NOW!" He made sure his order was followed by sending a large Fire Dragon's Roar into the sky aimed at the rat, who unfortunately dodged. Everyone hastily reached the center before he ran there too.

When they finally poured the liquid, Salamander brought both of his hands up before he coated his hands in fire. He pushed all of his fire into a rough ball shape before he wound up and threw it as hard as he could at the substance. The baseball sized fireball grew immensely before exploding on contact with the acidic jelly.

"EVERYONE HUDDLT TOGETHER!" Thankfully, everyone listened to him immediately and they huddled close enough together that only the area just outside their group was destroyed by the acid.

Salamander sighed and rubbed the sweat off his forehead in relief. He wasn't sure that would work but it was the only thing he could think of. But he couldn't remain relieved long before the three and the rat began swooping down.

"EVERYONE RUN! Lucy! Follow them and make sure no one gets hurt! I'll handle these guys!" Salamander ordered, craning his neck for what could be a decent fight.

"Okay!" She said with determination. She was fully confident in his abilities and didn't need to worry about him. But when she saw the giant rat chasing after the villagers after it had dropped off the two men she jumped on it. Much to the shock of Salamander.

"What the hell is she doing? Happy, go help her and do _not_ call her fat again." He ordered.

"Aye sir!" Happy said, pulling out his wings and blasting off towards the giant rat. Who, for no apparent reason, began plummeting out of the sky.

Sighing he turned to face the two mages. "All right, what are your names and how tough are you?"

The man with large eyebrows smirked and stepped forward. "My name is Yuka, his is Toby. We are more than strong enough to handle you, we were once part of the guild known as-"

"Don't care, fight time." Salamander said, launching himself at the bushy eyebrow man when his Fire Dragon's Iron Fist was stopped by a blue barrier.

"Ha! You have impressive speed! But my barrier blocks all magic!" Yuka taunted from the other side of the barrier.

Salamander cocked an eyebrow in interest, but simply pulled his fist back and made a jet of fire erupt from behind his elbow, rocketing his fist straight through the boys barrier with little effort.

Gazing at the unconscious teenager he frowned. "Man he said he was tough, I could have snapped his neck with that if I hit him wrong. So, Toby, what's your shtick?"

"My claws contain a deadly secret! One touch from them and you'll be doomed! Paralyzing slash!" Toby yelled as he slashed at him. Only for his arm to be grabbed and stop him in his tracks.

"Hey I'm not a genius or anything, but I'm guessing your attacks paralyze people." He said, an annoyed sigh escaping his mouth as he viciously pushed him away with a palm strike to his chest. Slightly surprised that it didn't knock him out cold.

"I'm much stronger than Yuka! And how did you know my secret?!" Toby demanded, apparently genuinely confused as to why Salamander knew about his claws paralysis.

 _'This guy's dumb as bricks. I wonder…'_

"Hey, you got something right here." He said, pointing to a spot on his forehead indicating that Toby held something similar on his forehead as well.

"What? Where?" Toby asked, moving his hand to remove the something but pricking himself with the claws and suddenly falling over. Completely paralyzed.

"Absolutely pathetic." Salamander said, turning and walking towards where the villagers ran to protect them in case anything else decided to attack.

A ray of sun suddenly hit him in the face making him look at the sky in its direction. "Huh, it's morning. Then I might have to stop Deliora myself."

A little later, he found himself at a well built second village. At his prompting, it was told to him that they simply had a second village on standby and this is where they stored all of the village's belongings. He had also been pointed to where Gray had received his medical treatment, relieved that his friend would be fine.

He sat on a nearby crate outside Gray's tent and decided to get a little bit of sleep. He had a sort of alarm clock in his head from having to live on his own for a while, but he still couldn't cook worth a damn.

He slept for about an hour before a cold finger prodding his face woke him up. "Who's there?" He asked groggily.

"It's Erza. I didn't expect you to be here." Said the requip mage, stepping back after she had prodded him in the face with her finger to wake him. Happy walking next to her and a Lucy who was bound in ropes being dragged behind her.

His attention was immediately drawn to Lucy who was staring at him with a look that screamed for help. "Why is she in ropes? Why are you here too?"

"I'm here because I have to take back a couple of _rule breakers_ to the guild to receive punishment. As for why she is tied up, it is because she will run away otherwise. She has already tried." Erza answered, tugging the rope a little when Lucy slowly scooted away.

"Okay…how did they break any rules?" He asked again, still lost.

"They _stole_ an S-Class mission request. They are to return to the guild immediately for punishment." Erza said, a deadly aura surrounding her that was all seemingly aimed at Lucy's cowering figure.

"Oh. That makes sense, but you'll have to help us finish the mission now that you're here." Salamander said, not expecting Erza's response.

"No, we are leaving as soon as I find Gray. With you here it is more than enough to complete the mission." She said, unable to not glare at the pink haired man for challenging her and her authority.

Salamander's gaze hardened slightly before he turned away. "That's pretty cold of you, but it's not my place to say anything. He's in there." He said, pointing with a thumb into the tent.

"I must thank you for making sure no one was hurt. But I have rules to follow." She moved to go on but Salamander's guilty look prompted further questioning.

She arrived at the wrong conclusion. "Oh, I almost forgot. I truly thank you for the Lullaby incident, but I'm afraid it was pointless." He sighed at her explanation.

"That's not it, I wasn't paying attention and Gray got messed up kind of bad. He's unconscious. I already knew that Lullaby stunt I pulled didn't have a point those two told me." He clarified, simply sighing and not feeling up to fighting Erza on whether they should stay and finish the mission or not.

"Oh, I see, I'll go check on him then. Come." Erza commanded Lucy, tugging on the rope as if she were a dog. The sight did make him laugh a little.

 _'I better go with her, she seems like the type who'd beat the shit out of someone in Gray's state. Though, I can't really blame her, they could have easily died if I weren't here.'_ He sighed at the thoughts running through his head, he suddenly felt like a nanny watching the kid's parent about to whoop their ass for something he couldn't.

When he entered the tent, Gray was still unconscious and Lucy was sobbing next to Erza whom was simply sitting in the chair nearby. Waiting for Gray to wake up presumably.

He didn't feel in the mood for much of a conversation, but Erza seemed to be. "Why exactly are you here on Galuna Island of all places? You were aware that it was cursed before you came here right?"

He smiled a little. "Yeah, I know. It's the perfect place to hide out after I told everyone about Lullaby. Have to hide somewhere so I might as well hide where no one wants to go."

She looked away a bit ashamed. "I wish I had never broken the Lullaby flute out of anger that you beat me. Then none of this would of happened and you wouldn't be on the run as much. Now you can hardly enter a town without seeing your staggering bounty."

He waved it off, barely concerned whatsoever. "So what? I have a bigger bounty on my head big deal. If I have to I could just go and dismantle some high players in the dark guild wanted list and send everybody the message not to screw with me. I'm just laying low here until the heat comes down. Plus, it really felt nice to help out one of my friends. And honestly Erza, I really am thankful you broke Lullaby. It's a huge weight off my chest to not have to worry about one of Zeref's magics or anybody trying to steal the damn thing. It's why Happy and I stole it a long time ago."

She couldn't help but smile. But she had a nagging question ever since Lullaby. "Why _did_ you steal Lullaby?" Lucy couldn't help but be curious as well.

Happy stared at Salamander. He knew the reason his friend hid his past, but would they be trustworthy enough to tell? It wasn't his decision so he remained silent.

Salamander sighed heavily, he'd already decided to not tell them yet. It was just such tender information that he'd be doomed if it ever got out.

"I'll tell you what I told them, everything that concerns Zeref and or his demons involves me. But I won't tell you why. At least, not now." He said, his expression serious for a change instead of his usual joyful look.

She narrowed her eyes for a moment before tying the rope Lucy was bound by to the chair and standing. "May we talk? In private?"

He scoffed but stood anyway, he knew what this was about. "Happy, stay here and make sure Lucy doesn't leave. If she doesn't, then I'll buy you whatever fish you want."

The cat stood ramrod straight. "Aye sir!" He then donned a prison warden's outfit in the blink of an eye before he paced back and for the in front of Lucy who glared venomously.

The two walked into the forest a decent bit before Salamander stopped and turned around. "So what did you want?" She was going to call him on his past right here and ask if it was true obviously.

"I didn't want to ask this in front of Lucy since you made it clear that it was sensitive. But, the name Natsu is familiar to you yes?"

That threw him for a bit of a loop. "Yeah, his death was pretty famous. He's kind of familiar to a lot of people."

She breathed out to steady her nerves. "As you subtly requested, I have not researched who this Natsu is. But if he is familiar to you, would I be allowed to research him to learn more about him as well as you? Since you consider me a friend, and I you, I would like to know at least a little more about you."

He blinked in surprise. That was it? She hadn't even looked up what Natsu he was talking about? He was starting to like her a little bit more if she was that thoughtful of her actions. But it seemed… _to_ considerate, like she was purposefully trying to draw attention away from something. But he had a hunch that that something didn't involve him in any way.

"Erza, you really want me to say yes, I can see it in your eyes you're beyond curious, but I just can't say yes. I can't let you research that man, I'm sorry. I'm honestly lucky it hasn't been found out yet." He sighed heavily, he wanted to tell her yes, but she respected his opinion and his privacy enough to not even bother without his say so.

She groaned. "I thought you'd say that. Dammit." She grasped the bangs on her forehead with both hands in frustration. "This is going to drive me crazy until you let me know."

He chuckled lightly at the childish reaction. "If I tell you a tiny tidbit that won't hurt me, will that be enough?"

She nodded her head, becoming serious once again. "Please, it will sate my curiosity more than enough with even the smallest tidbit."

He sighed but resigned to tell her anyway. "Well, Natsu and I do have a close past. That's why you can't look him up."

She breathed out heavily in satisfaction. "That makes me feel good to know I was right. That is enough for now, we can return to the rule breakers now."

"You are angry about that aren't you?"

"Positively livid."

The two quickly made it back to see that Gray had returned to consciousness and that Lucy was attempting to murder Happy with nothing more than her gaze.

"Gray! Lucy! Come! We are leaving this island at once!" Erza ordered, much to Gray's surprise and Lucy's resigned acceptance.

"You can't possibly mean abandoning these villager can you?" Gray asked, standing up to face Erza fully, bandages covering a good portion of his body.

"With the Salamander here, this mission is as good as complete. We are going back to the guild right now." She said, pulling out a sword and keeping it at her side, ready to use it to threaten anyone in submission.

Gray surprised him with his response. "I'm sorry, but I made a promise to help these people and I refuse to abandon them if they need me. We'll go back after we complete the mission."

Erza really surprised him when she pointed a blade at him. "We will return to the guild immediately and that is _final_."

Again he was surprised when Gray grabbed her blade and pointed at the Fairy Tail mark on his chest. "You and I both know what this mark means. As a member of Fairy Tail I can't quit, so I have to finish it. With or without your help, even though I know you want to."

 _'You've got balls Gray. Grabbing her sword like that. I've got your back if you need it.'_

Had it been any other situation, Erza would have relented. But with such a strong mage like the Salamander there, there wasn't a point to getting in his way when he would probably work better alone.

But he noticed her look and hesitation. "Sorry Erza but I'm with Gray, there might be some stuff I can't deal with on my own fast enough. Plus, if you three leave, then Happy and I leave." He smiled at her angry look, she looked positive he would back her up.

Gray smirked at him and silently thanked him.

"Fine, we will save the village and _then_ you will be punished." She finally relented.

"Oh and just so you know Erza, the villagers want us to destroy the moon to lift their curse." Salamander said much to her annoyance. He saw now as the best time to tell her this?

Salamander grinned. "All right now that she's on board nothing can stop us! Team Salamander is back-" She cut him off with a vicious elbow to the gut driving the air out of his lungs more than it should have. He silently smiled that she'd been working pretty hard to catch up to him, he assumed Gray was too.

"Never again. We will now be Team Erza. Any objections?" She asked, glaring at everyone in the room.

But as payback for being hesitant at helping the villagers Gray looked back and forth at both of them. "I'm for Team Salamander."

Erza glared daggers at the man but it was ignored when Salamander gave him a high five. So she glared at Lucy who gulped in fear. "I'm for Team Erza!" She said terrified of the glare being sent her way.

"Shit. It's two against two…Happy!" He said suddenly, picking up the blue cat and holding him at arms length. "Which team are you for?"

Happy grinned. "Team Salamander!"

"Ha! That's three against two! Eat it Erza-" Salamander was stopped mid sentence by a gauntleted fist smashing into his face with a tremendous force, enough to shake the tent they were in.

"Team Erza it is…" He wheezed out through her fist. That hurt like a bitch.

She nodded her head, as if she didn't just deck the strongest person in the room in the face to get what she wanted. Gray now was more terrified of her than ever, he couldn't even hide behind Salamander anymore. Erza was already strong enough to make him cower.

"Team Erza, move out!"

The four of them walked out of the tent towards the ruins of the previous night. But they had forgotten a certain member tied up against a chair.

"Someone untie me!" Lucy cried out.

* * *

Later

* * *

After going back for Lucy, something they made Happy do for giggles, they had made it about halfway before being surrounded by the cloak wearing cultists from the ritual yesterday. "Well, look who showed up. So how are we splitting up?" Salamander asked, not at all concerned with all of them there.

"I'm fighting Lyon, and Salamander you need to be there in case Deliora escapes." Gray said, already moving away from the group.

They all agreed with Gray's statement, splitting up the power like so made the most sense.

"Happy! Pills!" Salamander ordered. He caught the little box of pills and clutched it tightly before placing it inside his pocket.

During the run, Salamander couldn't help but glance at Gray worried. "Are you sure you can take that guy on your own in that condition?"

"Now I am. Lyon doesn't know that he's about to kill what's left of Ur. I have to win, I'm not allowed to lose." Gray answered, clenching his fist painfully tight as the memory surfaced of the day he lost his master.

"All right, I'll leave him to you. I'll standby and keep out of your hair." He wouldn't just leave Gray to possibly die unless he was forced to.

He hesitated at that answer but nodded at the logic of it. He wouldn't' step in until he asked him.

Eventually the two made it to the ruins, and Salamander could smell Lyon's scent as well as another that made his blood boil. He stopped Gray with a hand on the shoulder at the door to where the two scents stood.

"Gray, besides Lyon, there is another scent in there and it isn't one of those three weirdoes from the other day who attacked the village." He said, his face far more serious than Gray had ever seen it.

"All right. Who is it? You're acting like you know them." He was worried, what had the powerful Salamander worried like this?

His hand on his shoulder tightened even more. "I might die, there's a possibility. The other scent is _that_ powerful. It's one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory of Grimoire Heart. I can't place which one it is though, didn't ask for their names while I was trying to fight for my life."

His eyes widened in recognition. "You've got them though right?" He didn't miss the tightening of his hand on his shoulder.

"Now that there's something for me to protect on this island…probably. If you feel a huge jump in magical power and pressure assume I ate my booster pill. If that happens, finish Lyon and come find me. Because either that person beat me, or Deliora is free." He finally removed his hand and they both shook their heads in agreement, no more need for words. It had taken them until almost night to reach the ruins, so they didn't have much time until Deliora was free.

The door was large, so with little more than a glance, both men kicked the door off its hinges and found Lyon and the mystery scent who turned out to be a short man in a mask that really clashed with his outfit.

At the sight of Salamander, the man with the mask made a hole appear in the floor and taunted the dragon slayer. "Son of a bitch it's her! Kick his ass Gray!" The dragon slayer yelled to his friend as he jumped down the hole.

He followed the laughing man as he made more and more holes for Salamander to follow. "Come back here you bitch! I know it's you!" Finally he had caught up to the man who had led them to the chamber where Deliora was sitting, looking as if the ice around him was about to shatter.

"What the hell is your name? I fought you two years ago and I don't think I ever caught it." Maybe he could finish this without any sort of violence.

"Clever one aren't you? Surprised you remembered honestly." The man said, pulling off his mask to reveal himself as a woman with black hair and a white kimono that barely covered anything.

"I never forget someone's scent and you've made attempts on my life twice you harlot. Don't think I'd forget, and if you don't want me to kick your ass, then you'd best leave." He was really hoping she'd leave, but this woman was the devil herself.

"I don't have to beat you, I just simply have to delay you. From, well, that." She said, pointing towards Deliora where the Moon Drip was beginning to melt Iced Shell again.

"Son of a bitch! I'll deal with you later! I have to stop-" He turned and began running out of the cave to stop the ritual, but a small orb slammed into the back of his skull, knocking him down. When he got up and glared at her, he missed the ceiling that dropped down on him. But he noticed it at the last moment and simply punched it into dust.

"All right then, you've officially pissed me right off." He'd fought her once his pills power was wearing off, so he barely saw what she was capable of.

She smirked before pointing at his feet before the floor beneath him turned into dust which he sunk into slightly before it returned to solid stone again. The orb came around again and smacked him in the face, cracking open his lip. He growled in anger, his vision beginning to go red, before he punched the ground at his feet with Fire Dragon's Iron Fist and causing a large dust cloud to obscure his appearance.

He poured fire from his feet and launched at her at a ferocious speed. But a piece of ceiling came down on top of him courtesy of her magic and drove him viciously into the ground. When he got up and shook the stars from his vision, the stupid ball was flying at him again. But this time he was ready, he suddenly reached out and grabbed the ball with both hands before crushing it in his fearsome grip.

"Ha! Fuck your ball!" He said this with a victorious grin before a sharp stinging blow hit him in the back of head. When he looked for the cause, he saw that there were hundreds of the ball he just crushed. His vision fully turned red from anger before she brought her arm down and all the balls flew at him with ferocity.

He burst through the barrage to her surprise and used the balls as platforms to jump off of and punch her in the face with Fire Dragon's Iron Fist. Sending her crashing into the nearby pillar with a resounding crash as her form was made invisible.

He breathed a sigh of relief that managed to hit her. So he judged that they were about even if all she could do was manipulate objects, he'd just outlast her if that was the case. But he saw her stand, more pissed off than hurt, and he groaned in annoyance. He put an awful lot behind that blow.

Before he could attack again, she suddenly stopped before holding a blue version of the ball that repeatedly struck and talked into it.

"What do you mean Salamander needs to be spared? Who the hell are you talking to?" He asked angrily, the person on the other line made themselves sound even more important that this chick in front of him.

"I'd tell you, but I'm honestly out of time from my boss. So I have to bid you adieu. Have fun handling Deliora!" She said before fading away from sight. Using the line he'd said when he stormed the council building.

"Salamander!" He heard his name uttered by a familiar voice and his temper vanished in relief. But it was replaced when he saw his condition.

"What the hell did you do to win?" He said, forgetting about the woman's comment about Deliora as the ritual suddenly stopped.

"I kicked his ass like I said! He may or may not have also kicked mine." The jovial reunion was interrupted by a ferocious roar that made Gray freeze in fear and Salamander to turn slowly, desperately wishing that what he thought was happening wasn't true.

"Deliora is revived!" The deafening roar that followed as the beast continued destroying what was left of the cage holding it. Deliora was finally free.

"Dammit!" Gray said, suddenly running forward and assuming a stance where he crossed his arms and Ice Magic swirled around him powerfully enough to make him cover his eyes.

"Gray! You better not be doing what I think you're doing!" Salamander shouted out, beginning to think his friend was about to kill himself.

"I don't have a choice! There's no way to stop it other-" Gray was knocked out of his suicidal spell casting by a beyond angry Salamander punching him in the face.

"I told you not to get yourself killed earlier! This is why I'm here!" Salamander said as he pulled out the pill container before popping one and putting them back in his pocket.

"HEY! YOU'RE OPPONENT IS OVER HERE YOU BIG UGLY BASTARD!" Unbelievably, a blue and orange flame that matched Deliora in height came from the dragon slayer who had succeeded in getting the giant beast's attention.

This thing was on another completely different level from Lullaby, and Salamander knew full well that this would kill him if the pill wasn't enough. The giant beast raised its hand and just as it was beginning to fall, the beast froze, unmoving.

"What?" Salamander asked as he calmed down enough to see Deliora break apart bit by bit before fading away into dust.

"What just happened?" They both echoed the other's thoughts on the situation with their question, but Salamander suddenly perked up and turned to Gray with a big smile on his face.

"Hey Gray, Deliora is dead! You master was really something though. Even though she's dead, ten years later she is still looking out for you." Salamander said, laughing slightly.

"Your master is that ice right? Well, after being the cage of Deliora for ten years, she must have sucked away his life bit by bit until it died. All they thawed out was a corpse."

The whole endeavor must have been too much for the boy because he merely passed out at the knowledge of seeing the very bane of his existence die right in front of him. So with a small smile, he hoisted the man on his shoulders again and began the walk back to the city. He still had to destroy the moon and cure the villagers, how the hell was he going to do that?

* * *

After Returning to the Village

* * *

How the hell did the village become restored? Oh well, he didn't care much one way or another because as soon as he got in the village and pawned the unconscious Gray off to the villagers he passed out from the effects of his pill booster.

"I feel like shit." He said once he had awoken and been dragged to the lookout by Erza. She still hadn't told him what they were doing there.

"Just deal with it for now. All you need to do is punch this spear as hard as you can on my command." She said this as she changed into a golden armor with fur covering certain spots and one arm much bigger than the other. The spear she was talking about appeared in the big hand and it was adorned to look almost like a rocket.

"Fine, but it won't do much, I feel like crap after eating that pill." He coated his hand in fire and prepared to use his Fire Dragon's Iron Fist at Erza's demand. She reared her arm back and gave him the command. He hit the spear just as she threw the spear and it took off so fast it was damn near invisible. Soon, the sky cracked and shattered starting at the moon before it returned to its original color.

"These people aren't humans who've turned into demons. They're demons who've lost their memory." Erza explained, going on to explain that continued use of the Moon Drip spell over the years formed a sphere around the island and screwed up the memories of all the inhabitants of the island. Even the chief's son returned, exclaiming that he had regained his memories and had tried to find help outside the island.

Salamander didn't remember much of the party afterwards, he felt to crappy to remember it. But he did get to see a drunken Gray flirt with both Lucy and Erza who took it in turns to beat the living shit out of him for it. But of course, being drunk, ignored it and flirted with everything with breasts on the island, including Lucy and Erza again.

He sighed sadly when he learned he would still have to spend a little longer with these demons, but they were happy to lodge him and his cat for his help in restoring the village.

Erza looked back at the island as they sailed away, Gray had joined her a bit ago and she suspected he thought the same thing. "I want to offer him a place in the guild, what do you think?"

He shrugged. "Seems like a good idea to me, but what would the council do?"

She sighed at the thought. "Who knows? Maybe if master insisted on it they would let him under some probation or something."

Lucy heard the conversation and smugly thought to herself that she had thought of the idea first.

* * *

 **A/N: Yeah, also, I think I'm neglecting Lucy an awful lot. But I guess that this is Gray's ark and Lucy's is next I think. I'm pretty sure Phantom lord is Lucy's ark since it explains her past a lot.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Straight up, I'm saying that this Phantom is actually not as different as I originally planned. But it was awesome the way it did work out. Also, I went ahead and removed the poll since this story really isn't popular enough for such a thing. Apologies to anyone who voted, but only four people voted until yesterday and this story just flat out isn't popular.**

 **Not that I mind though because the people who do love it I'm more than happy to hear all the loving praise you give the story. Even if it feels I don't really deserve it.**

 **Plus I still have a few great twists for certain arcs in the story.**

* * *

Salamander sighed. Being in a town was always a little bit of a hassle; but having to be transformed the whole time, giving off a small magic signal to anyone looking for his particular magic; i.e. the council, was a much _bigger_ hassle now that his bounty was higher. But, this particular bar was renowned for its alcoholic beverages and its killer fish sandwich; which Happy was currently in the process of removing the fish from said sandwich and eating them alone.

"Is the fish any good buddy?" Salamander asked, rubbing the top of his comrade's head in an affectionate manner.

"Aye!" Happy's answers were always simple and clear. But the nice atmosphere was interrupted as a 'person' who looked a lot like a man sat across from him.

The reason Salamander described him as a 'person' is because of the small constant stream of magic circulating their body. A sign of transformation magic like he was doing, he was going above and beyond to hide his appearance too. All Salamander could smell was nothing, perfect from hiding from a dragon slayer.

The 'man' nodded politely before calling for a waitress and asked for a coffee. When she was gone, he grabbed a napkin and pulled out a pen and wrote something on it before passing it onto the transformed Salamander.

It read, _'I know who you are, you can't hide your scent with just a transformation.'_

Salamander's eyes narrowed. He only knew of a handful of mages that could recognize someone by scent, they were mainly dragon slayers. And the only ones that knew his identity were Cobra of Oracion Seis, and Gajeel of Phantom Lord, he _really_ hoped that he didn't just have really shit luck.

He looked at the note before he showed it to Happy, who paled slightly at the note after coming to the same conclusion his friend did.

He wrote his own response that read, _'And? Why are you confronting me about it? How long have you been tailing me?'_

After reading the new note, the 'man' seemed rather taken aback. _'I'm not surprised you didn't smell me or recognize me. But I didn't think you'd jump to such a harsh conclusion.'_

 _'I'm not in the mood for games. Who the hell are you?'_

 _"I should be asking you the same question, you're supposed to be dead.'_

Salamander's eyes widened almost unnoticeably. Who the hell was this guy? How did he apparently know his past? He was beginning to sweat as his fears of the man in front of him being Cobra were beginning to come true.

 _'All right Cobra, what the hell are you after? What do you want? Money? Information? Or are you here to blackmail me?'_

The 'man' smirked as he slowly and meticulously took his time writing the note in front of him. _'Wrong guess Salamander.'_

Salamander's eyes narrowed in confusion before they refocused on the man before a look of realization struck him. _'Gajeel Redfox is that you?'_

"Gi hi hi." The 'man' laughed quietly, writing something down on another napkin before Salamander incinerated the last one.

 _'It's been a long time, master.'_

"Son of a bitch, I wanted to see you again but I didn't want to at the same time. Happy come on we're going to have a little chat." Salamander whispered to his friend, leaving the money for their bill.

The three of them walked in silence, well, Salamander and Gajeel walked because Happy flew, in silence until making it a decent way into the forest before they both lowered their transformations. Revealing Salamander in his vest, scarf and baggy pants and Gajeel in his black coat studded with iron and his own brown baggy pants.

"Ask away. I don't have to tell you anything though." Salamander said, sighing heavily as his old friend wouldn't let him leave until he explained himself.

"I don't have to, I know why you faked your death, it was simply because you had to. Want I want to know is why you couldn't trust us with that information. A lot of the guild missed you, Jose is a good master but he can't compare to you." Gajeel explained, reminiscing on the time when Salamander was the master of Phantom Lord

"Jose better be a good master because I picked his ass. And I didn't have much of a choice. Telling that slimy son of a bitch about my past eventually got it to the council's ears and I've regretted it ever since." Salamander said, cursing the name of the council spy who ratted him out that day.

"If you were alive this whole time…why couldn't you tell us somehow? So we wouldn't have to grieve over something like that?" Gajeel said somewhat angrily, glaring at his old master.

Salamander remained silent for a while, mulling over his answers. "And what if another council rat heard about it? If Salamander's name was linked with his name then the council would be even more pissed at me. Plus they would hunt my ass down."

Gajeel laughed his trademark laugh. "We heard about that, now that I see who the infamous Salamander really is it makes a lot more sense that you became their friends. That was hilarious."

He looked away in embarrassment. "I always have been a softy for those guys. Well, if I didn't, they would absolutely destroy us back then since Makarov has always been so crazy powerful. Stupid old midget."

"You were such a young master back then, hard to believe you'd end up like this. You were always such a firecracker at those guild master meetings and those saint wizard meetings. Even though Jose is nothing but a gloomy sack of angst now, even he still smiles at those old memories." Gajeel smirked slightly to himself when he remembered how Salamander would always challenge his guildmates and other guild masters, far above his level, to a fight.

"Those were really good times you know? I'd love to relive those things, but I can't. There's too much heat." Salamander said, sighing as he relived his memories along with Gajeel.

"You know, Oak Town has a lot of respect for The Salamander's name and the mayor of the city has silently taken down your posters. You could come visit if you want. I'm heading back from a mission and some of the guild would love if you came back." Gajeel offered, he would be more persistent, but this man still had pretty much all of the authority in his books. At least, for now.

"Really now? I'll consider it." He said, not intending on going back anytime soon.

"Come on, please? It'd mean a lot to me and the guild. I'd love to see Jose's face when he sees you." Gajeel continued to beg.

"Oh all right fine. I doubt we need to bring up my name. I'm just a friend of yours all right?" Salamander said, finally relenting after seeing Gajeel nearly get on his knees and beg. "Speaking of Jose, has he changed much since I left?"

The dragon slayer nodded. "Yeah, the grudge has been building between Fairy Tail and Phantom since you left. I don't think Jose was able to inherit your charisma and keep the rivalry down after you 'died'."

"Damn. That means war is pretty much inevitable doesn't it?" Salamander sighed, he did his damned best to keep the two guilds from killing each other. But being on the top so long didn't sit well with finally being usurped from their number one spot.

Gajeel shook his head vigorously. "No that won't happen. You know Jose wouldn't let that kind of thing happen. The two just hate each other's guts." He left out the little detail where Jose already had the plan set in motion to wipe out Fairy Tail and he felt that the old master probably wouldn't stand for it. But if the old master was there when Fairy Tail finally snapped and found out what the dragon slayer did to their guild members, Fairy Tail would be annihilated.

Salamander sighed in relief. "At least Jose hasn't differed from what I taught him." A genuine smile appeared on the man's face as he remembered teaching that man everything he knew about being a guild master.

Gajeel felt a small pang of regret at lying to the man he once greatly respected. But there was a burning question on his mind. "I've been meaning to ask, who is that blue cat?" He asked, eyeing the small creature every other minute.

"Oh him? Happy say hi to Gajeel. He was from Phantom and he and I kind of grew up together before that happened." Salamander said, perking up at the mention of his companion for the last five years.

"Hello Gajeel! Would you like some fish?" Happy said, giving his usual introduction.

"Uh, no thanks buddy." Gajeel politely declined, rubbing his hair awkwardly.

"Accept the fish or I will hit you." He threatened, cracking his knuckles.

Gajeel wisely ate the fish offered to him.

* * *

On the Train

* * *

"I honestly forgot that you got _this_ motion sick." Gajeel said awkwardly, seeing his old friend puke his guts out over the train railing. He himself felt a bit queasy, but nothing like the man puking next to him.

"Just forget it…you have permission to knock me out." Salamander said, violently hurling up his guts again after voicing his thoughts.

Gajeel smiled ear to ear as he socked his old master in the face as hard as his Iron Dragon's Club would allow him to. Which knocked the weakened, motion sick mage, right the fuck out.

* * *

In Oak Town

* * *

This place brought back a lot of pleasant and painful memories to Salamander. He remembered everything about this town down to almost the last detail…never mind six years did a lot to this town. There were buildings where he didn't remember, schools where he didn't remember, and a big ass guild in the center of town…oh son of a bitch.

"That giant castle thing is Phantom Lord's new headquarters isn't it?" Salamander said, rubbing a hand down his face in exasperation while he sighed tiredly.

"Yeah, I thought you'd know that Phantom got huge in the time you left. We have tons of branches and subdivisions now. Phantom may be equal to Fairy Tail and no longer superior, but we are _way_ richer." Gajeel said, smiling proudly at his guild's wealth.

"I thought I taught that skinny twig to be humble. At least financially." He sighed and the two walked in silence until they came upon the guild. But Salamander stopped him from opening the door.

"You sure no one will notice me?" He asked again, beginning to consider leaving without entering. Happy had been increasingly nervous about entering the building and kept himself calm by staying on his friend's shoulder.

"Absolutely, lots of the old members left after you died. And most of the members who would recognize you are on a mission right now." Gajeel was referencing the Element Four's mission to capture a Lucy Heartfilia. But Salamander wouldn't recognize the name Element Four or have any idea who was in it.

"All right. I'm going to go talk to Jose, I know he'll recognize me and I want to see what kind of master he became." He said, opening the door and walking side by side with Gajeel. He ignored the strange looks he got.

"See ya. He's on the top floor." With nothing more than a small wave, Gajeel sent his master off. If he walked in with Gajeel, no one had the balls to give the mysterious pink haired man any trouble as he walked through the guild.

Salamander took his time walking through the more vacant areas of the guild hall as he made his way towards Jose's office. He stopped and placed a hand on the wall and tried to remember the times he was the master of this place.

"This isn't very nostalgic. The place is just too damn different." Salamander said sadly, the place felt like a different place with all the new faces and his old members leaving. A lot of his attachment to the guild was gone and it made him sad, though, he had to be at least a little happy that his name was even _less_ tied to this place than he thought.

"I don't remember it at all. I was still in an egg. This place is scary." Happy said, looking around from Salamander's shoulder at the towering sights of the castle turned guild hall.

"I wouldn't want you to. You'd feel like crap because it's so different. It's not the different I thought though, everything here seems…malicious I guess." Salamander continued to note the differences in his head until he reached Jose's office.

He breathed deeply before he kicked the door open, causing the lanky man inside to jump slightly at the rude entrance. But he stopped in his reprimanding tracks when he saw the old master whom had trained him and a unnoticeable glint in his eyes twinkled in suppressed mischief. He could use the old master's power quite well in the coming battle of Fairy Tail.

Salamander, meanwhile, recoiled in horror at the man in front of him who looked like the skinniest emo clown he'd ever seen. Happy fainted from fear.

"What the hell happened to you Jose? You look like a straight up boogeyman out of a kid's book!" Salamander said, grimacing at the man after taking a closer look.

Jose grew a tick mark at his old master's remark. But decided to ignore it, after all, he wanted this man's strength on his side during the war with Fairy Tail. They'd win without his help, but he wanted to crush them.

"How are you alive? You died six years ago." Jose asked sitting back down and ignoring his comment.

Salamander shut the door and sat down across from Jose, stirring his fainted friend from slumber at the same time.

"Faked it, you know my mission and you know why it was important to hide it. The council figured out who I was, so I faked my death." He said, giving Happy a fish to keep the cat calm in the presence of such a…different Jose than he remembered.

"I understand that. By why not tell us?" Jose didn't forget that he once cared about this man a great deal, but he no longer harbored such feelings any longer. He'd surpassed his master long ago and no longer respected him for his strength.

"I couldn't risk letting another council rat figure out I was alive. So I didn't tell anyone, believe me I wanted to." He said, not saying that he took up the alias of Salamander out of a paranoia that had saved him many times.

"I see…is that all you wanted? I'm very busy." Jose said, dismissing the man.

"I know, so I'll get out of your hair once you tell how the grudge is doing." Salamander said, staring at Jose with a look of pure seriousness.

Jose narrowed his eyes, he couldn't tell the man the truth about this or he would very well reprimand the entire guild, he's be the only one to stop him and that would throw a wrench in his plans.

So he lied.

"I've done my best as you taught me, but it seems without your charisma the guild seems intent on making Fairy Tail our enemy, and vice versa." He lied through his teeth and he was only slightly worried that his old master would notice.

But he only nodded. "That's what I thought. I'm going to hang around a little downstairs and then leave. Being here is a little painful."

"That would be best, but if Phantom needs you. Can we count on it?" Jose said, he expected Fairy Tail to be here any day now.

He nodded his head once before pointing to his chest. "I'll always protect this guild. Even if the kids in it aren't mine anymore."

Jose couldn't help but let the small smile leak through his face, his old master would never change.

What he didn't notice was the thought projection of Jose smile widely after he left, receiving the information that Lucy Heartfilia had been captured.

It didn't take Salamander long to reach the guild hall and see Gajeel motion him over to the bar. He did so grudgingly and ordered a flame shot, something he hoped they still served. Happy ordered a raw stack of fish.

"Nice to see you master, Gajeel explained it to me when I asked him. One flame shot coming up." The barmaid said, giving him a warm smile before leaving to grab his special mix.

He gave a look to Gajeel and the man explained. "She recognized you. I didn't tell her anything." With that out of the way the two men clanked their drinks together and drank to their hearts content. Being dragon slayers and therefore part dragon, they could drink for quite some time until they were content.

But Salamander's potent dragon hearing picked up on a group of men talking, he would have tuned them out. But a certain name came to his ears and judging by Gajeel's ears twitching he heard it too.

One Lucy Heartfilia.

"Lucy Heartfilia? That name sounds familiar. Gajeel, you know…" Salamander stopped his sentence when he noticed Gajeel sweating bullets while he drank his drink. It didn't take him long to notice that Gajeel did know who this women was.

"Who is she Gajeel?" He silently demanded, gripping the man's wrist painfully tight.

"Ow. Relax, she's just some rich girl runaway we had to capture. Nothing more." Gajeel said truthfully, he just wouldn't say she was part of Fairy Tail and he'd be fine.

"Oh." Salamander began releasing the man's wrist and drinking his drink, to the great relief of Gajeel. "Is she blonde and a celestial wizard?" He asked innocently.

"Yeah. Why?" Gajeel answered unaware that Salamander now _knew_ what the hell was going on.

"You captured Lucy of Fairy Tail didn't you?" He said, his face blank and betraying the overwhelming anger he suddenly felt.

"Well, her name is Lucy Heartfilia. It could just be a coincidence, there's lots of blonde celestial wizards." Gajeel tried to defend weakly, he knew he was busted.

"I think I'm smart enough to know what's going on here." Silently, Salamander rose from his seat and walked out of Phantom Lord and began walking to their _true_ headquarters. One he was positive would never move or change.

"Where are we going?" Happy asked, worried about his friends immense anger.

"We're going to stop a war."

For once, Salamander did the opposite of what had been normal as of late. He missed the entirety of the Fairy Tail guild attack and declare war on Phantom Lord.

It didn't take him long to walk all the way to Phantom's HQ. He honesty had to walk to try and vent off some of his anger. If he didn't he'd bust in and just immediately start attacking Jose. He saw that smug look in Jose's eyes when he regarded him, he saw him as something lower than an insect. He'd have to teach him a lesson.

When he got there, he looked up and saw a large rectangular tower with entrances only at what appeared to be the top. But everything else was connected to it so it must have had guards posted.

"Happy."

"Aye!"

With just a word, Happy flew them both to the top of the tower and he busted the wall down where he could smell Lucy's scent. He hit home when the wall he busted down and revealed a conscious Lucy in front of Jose.

When he saw the man, his hand twitched in an effort to keep himself from beating Jose senseless.

"So I was right. Come on over here Lucy." Salamander ordered, stepping into the building and surprising the both of them.

"What are you doing here Salamander?" Lucy asked, not believing her luck that he of all people would save her.

Jose immediately widened his eyes as he stared at his old master. "You are Salamander? To think you would have betrayed your guild in such a way as to become friends with fairies."

"Happy, take her out of this damn tower. Take her back to Fairy Tail, I'll meet you there." He said, keeping his furious unblinking stare aimed at Jose.

Lucy felt terribly out of place. She felt as if the air around her was choking her with the anger the two mages were throwing around. She hesitated for just a moment before Salamander roughly grabbed her shoulder and tossed her outside. She felt the blue cat grab her out of the air before he looked up at the dark purple explosion where she just was.

"Happy! What's going on?! Why is Salamander here?!" She asked frantically, she hadn't missed how Jose claimed Salamander was a member of Phantom before he tossed her out of the building. The sheer strength of the two fighting mages made her gulp in fear.

Happy looked utterly confident, despite his own fear of the man. "Salamander was relaxing and he heard Phantom kidnapped you! So we came here to save you!" He said, untying the ropes that bound her as a flaming missile slammed into the ground next to her.

"Salamander!' Lucy exclaimed, she took his condition in and he looked fairly scuffed up for such a short fight. Holes in his clothes and several small lacerations on his skin.

He looked at her shocked. "What are you still doing here? Get going!"

"Aye sir!" Happy said, grabbing the now untied Lucy by the shoulders and flying off into the distance.

"Happy! Why did Jose say he was a member of Phantom Lord!" Lucy shouted into the wind.

Happy looked at her confused. "I think the better question is why you were being held captive by Phantom!"

Lucy looked away and just asked to be taken to Fairy Tail as soon as possible.

Happy noticed her apprehension and decided to ask her about what they heard. "Is it because your family is rich and you ran away?!"

Lucy was happy that they were flying fast so the wind could be blamed for her tears at the memories of her father ignoring her and pretending she was the worst kind of nuisance. But how did he know about that? Were Salamander and Happy both in on it?

"How did you know about that?!" She asked, beginning to see the outskirts of Magnolia and the damaged Fairy Tail guild.

"Gajeel told us!" He said, setting them down outside the guild hall before panting slightly, he flew his little blue butt off to get here in just an hour. He took notice of the Fairy Tail guild hall and how it looked destroyed with iron poles jutting out in all kinds of directions.

"What happened?" He asked, scratching his head.

"This is why we attacked Phantom. Now come on Happy, you and I have some explaining to do to the guild." Lucy said, walking with the little cat inside the guild's basement where she was immediately bombarded with questions as to where she was.

"Everyone calm down! I have some explaining to do." Everyone quieted down to give Lucy her piece.

"I haven't been completely honest with who I am. My real name is Lucy Heartfilia and Phantom captured me because my father told them to." She was interrupted by a stunned Gray.

"Why would he do that?" He was immediately clocked by Erza's fist for interrupting the blonde.

"My father is actually incredibly wealthy, and by extension so am I. And I ran away from home, so it's my fault for what happened to everyone here." Lucy continued, unable to look her guildmates in the eye.

"So what?" Gray said after recovering from Erza's beating. "No one cares who you are or who you're related to. You're just Lucy of Fairy Tail to us. Right everybody?" Gray's claim was met with overwhelming agreement, but Lucy couldn't help but still feel guilty.

Erza suddenly laid a hand on her shoulder. "How did you escape from Phantom Lord?"

Happy finally perked up and drew everyone's attention, making Gray nearly face palm at Salamander 'yet again showing up out of nowhere' but he had smile on his face.

"Salamander and I saved her!" Happy stated, getting a confirmatory nod from Lucy as the guild gave her a questioning glance. Unknown to Happy or Salamander, he'd actually gained a large amount of respect from Fairy Tail for saving Team Erza's lives a handful of times and openly refusing to raise his hand against them, as well as being good friends with everyone on Team Erza.

"So where is he then? We'd like to thank him!" Someone from the crowd shouted out, getting lots of support as many of the members wished to actually meet the man in person for some time. Makarov being one of the most insistent.

"Salamander's teaching Jose a lesson!" Happy stated proudly fully confident his friend would be here just fine. Lucy was a little less confident but Salamander's strength didn't need proven to her.

The guild went dead silent and Erza's mouth was agape. "He's fighting Jose? He'll be killed!"

Before Happy could ask why Erza continued. "Happy! He has those booster pills of his right?!"

"Of course he…does?" Happy began, slowly pulling the pills out of his little backpack as a look of fear took over his face.

Before anyone could panic over the fate of Salamander, the ground began to shake. "What the hell is that? Everyone outside!" Gray yelled, the guild flooding outdoors to see a giant walking castle.

"What the hell is that!?" Several voices said the same thing but everyone was thinking it.

 _"Hello Fairy Tail!"_ A voice boomed over the city.

"Jose! That means…" Erza began not wanting what she thought to be true to be true.

 _"Thanks to a certain interloper, Lucy Heartfilia has escaped made it back to your precious guild. But that brings me to my next point."_ Jose then stopped speaking and a large visual lacrima was displayed and it showed Salamander's unmoving, destroyed body held to the wall near Jose by some sort of metal bindings similar to Team Shadow Gear's bindings when they were discovered. He looked like he went through a meat grinder.

"Salamander…" Fairy Tail was enraged at both the act of careless torture that Salamander seemingly went through, and that one of their comrades was being captured again.

 _"Let's make a little trade, Salamander's life for Lucy Heartfilia. Let's see which is more important."_ Jose said, his smug grin visibly enraging all of Fairy Tail even further as the lacrima froze on Salamander's body.

"Reedus! Take Lucy somewhere safe. I don't trust Jose, especially with a hostage." Erza ordered, watching as her order was obeyed and Lucy was taken away after Mirajane put her to sleep.

While Fairy Tail was forced to discuss the situation amongst themselves, Happy clutched the pill box tightly in his hand as he looked back and forth between his friend and Fairy Tail. He knew what he had to do. Happy silently took off as fast as his wings cold carry him towards Phantom. A few minutes later, Jose appeared on the lacrima again.

 _"Perhaps we should give you a little incentive. Fire the Jupiter cannon."_ Jose said suddenly before a giant cannon slowly emerged from the building and started glowing.

"That will destroy the entire town!" Erza exclaimed loudly, racking her brain for ideas to stop it. She could only think of one.

"What?!" The guild said worriedly, if it could really destroy the town, then what could they do against something like that?

Erza suddenly requiped into her Adamantine armor and prepared herself to block Jupiter.

"DON'T YOU DARE JOSE!" Salamander's voice screamed suddenly, tearing the restraints out of the wall as his flames coated him head to toe in an intense heat that melted the restraints that weren't even in his fire. He collapsed onto the ground once he was on his feet. His body was in agony, but he heard him, he _heard_ him.

"HAPPY!" He yelled, holding his hand up to receive the bottle of pills that the cat had thrown before taking one and throwing them back. Everyone could see a twisted smile form on Salamander's face as he rose to his feet while his flames became so intense that they turned into a blue fire and coated his being and almost stuck to him.

"Jupiter isn't firing." He said quietly, destroying the visual lacrima with a mere swing of the hand as Fairy Tail was left with nothing to see the condition of their friend. Suddenly, a huge plume of fire erupted from the top and bottom of Phantom's walking guild and Jupiter suddenly shut down and the guild itself slumped over as one of its legs was damaged.

Soon after this, immense amounts of incredibly hot fire and darkness magic were being flung everywhere through the guild. Exploding out of the sides and clashing with each other and destroying the head of the guild.

"Our friend is fighting Jose with everything he has! We must storm the guild and help him before it's too late!" Erza said loudly, drawing the attention of her guildmates as the explosions at Phantom increased in intensity.

But before she could continue, hundreds of shades came out of Phantom and flew towards them.

"Gray, Mirajane, and Elfman will follow me into Phantom. The rest of you defend the guild." At Erza's order, Gray, Mirajane, and Elfman all stepped up. With Mirajane and Erza taking to the skies in their armor and Satan Soul respectively, and Gray and Elfman stuck running along the ground on Gray's ice floor.

But during that time, the explosive clash of magic in Phantom ceased and from the sky Erza and Mirajane can see Salamander limp out of the ruins on the top floor. As the two rush to save him, a blast of dark magic envelops his entire being and blasts him off the structure.

"Salamander!" Erza yelled out, realizing that even with his boosted magic, Jose had overwhelmed the mage.

She quickly instructed Mirajane to continue on and dove down to catch Salamander herself. Only reaching the man just before he slammed into the water. She panted at the exertion and thanked her lucky stars that she was able to reach him in time.

Holding him bridal style she shook him lightly, mindful of his injuries, in an attempt to rouse him from unconsciousness.

"Salamander! Salamander wake up!" If she weren't holding him and able to physically feel his heartbeat, then she would see him as dead. His body was mauled beyond comprehension, deep gashes and smeared blood was all over his body. How he was still alive she didn't know.

She reached a hand to touch his face but a tired hand grasped hers. "Salamander! Thank goodness you're alive."

"Where…where am I?" He asked, cracking his eyes open and staring at the face above his.

"We're floating in the air. Hang on, I'll set us down on Phantom's machine." She did so and set the man down only continuing to hold his head, him not having the strength to hold his own head up. No even registering that he was still holding Erza's hand.

"I lost to Jose…when did he get so strong?" He asked, he knew some of the matters involving Phanto, but why did Jose becoming that strong never reach his ears?

Erza looked at him confused. "Were you an old friend of Jose's?" She asked, how did the Salamander know Jose? Maybe she could weasel out more of his secretive past.

"Remember when we first met? I said Fairy Tail and another guild were under my protection? It was because I didn't want this to happen." He explained tiredly.

Her eyes widened slightly. "You mean you were trying to keep Phantom and Fairy Tail from fighting?"

He nodded. "I didn't want my old guild to be disbanded, which is what is going to happen."

"You're old guild?" She asked confused, she remembered Salamander saying something about another guild taking him in, it was Phantom?

"Yeah, I raised everyone in Phantom for two years, but six years ago I had to fake my death. I taught Jose the opposite of everything he is now. Please, tell Makarov to stop him." He asked desperately, staring up at her wide eyes with his own pleading ones.

"Guild master?" She almost dropped him at that outburst, she never knew Jose wasn't the master of Phantom lord six years ago.

"Yeah, I'll explain everything after Phantom has been defeated. As its master this is painful to say, but please…wipe out everyone in Phantom." He asked, sure that she would do that.

Erza looked down at him in silence. This man was a real mystery, but he was willing to explain everything for having her do something she was going to do anyway. She gently laid him down and told him to rest.

"Fairy Tail will win, don't you worry about that. I want an explanation after this, don't you dare skip town on me." She demanded, though; in his state, he wasn't going anywhere.

He raised his hand and gave her an exhausted thumbs up but opened his mouth to say one last thing.

"Yell for Happy…I need to know if he's okay. I went a little…crazy against Jose." He wheezed out, body and mind thoroughly exhausted after his two battles with Jose and his short conversation with Erza

"I don't have to, he's coming down." She said, a small smile gracing her face as, even though he was at death's door, he still couldn't stop worrying about his best friend.

"My name's Natsu. Call me that in private from now on." Salamander, no, Natsu said as he could hear Happy coming down.

Erza smiled as the two reunited and shook her head before turning around and jumping into Phantom's Headquarters. Intent on ending this guild war as soon as possible.

Natsu smirked at her eagerness before he let himself sleep for a moment, but Happy nuzzling into his chest made it a little harder.

* * *

Twenty Minutes Later

* * *

He awoke with a painful start as he looked to where his ears had pointed out a specific noise. Tortured screams.

"Happy, help me up." Natsu ordered, the cat responded in kind and slowly got him to his feet.

Again he heard the noise, someone was being tortured nearby and he could tell where they were. He sniffed around and all he could smell was one scent, Lucy's.

His vision went red as he snarled in anger, he didn't know where this power was coming from but he liked it. So with a start, he punched a hole in the wall and began limping towards her scent. As he got closer, he was positive as the scent was getting stronger as well as the screams. That Lucy was the one being tortured.

He grabbed a nearby torch and ate the fire on it for a strength boost, it was small but it got rid of the limp. He found himself outside the door where the screams were coming from and he blasted it off the hinges to see a site that made him nearly hurl.

Gajeel, the guy he'd grown up alongside and raised a bit was spitting all over his memory and his teachings to toss knives, with a gleeful smile on his face, at a viciously beaten Lucy who was far past the point of being able to defend herself.

Gajeel stopped and regarded his master with a feral grin before tossing the rest of his knives at Lucy. Which thankfully missed.

"Hey Salamander! How'd you like the beat down Jose gave you? Nah, don't answer that." Gajeel said, an iron club growing form his hand and launching at the livid dragon slayer.

He surprised everyone in the room, along with himself, by catching the club and yanking Gajeel towards him at a frightening speed.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu yelled once Gajeel was right in his face, even as beaten and weakened as he was now, he wouldn't lose to someone like the monster Phantom had become.

But Gajeel surprised him by getting up from the wreckage his body had slammed into with a big smile on his face. "Gi hi hi. I've always wanted to beat you to a pulp." Suddenly, metallic scales grew all along his body and Natsu panted lightly at the exhertion.

"Great…you got super strong to…didn't you?" He asked, adjusting his shirt, or what was left of it, for what would probably be a long fight.

"Number one in the guild." The two then launched at each other, exchanging a swift flurry of blows that were entangled with blazing heat or the strength of iron.

Gajeel hit Natsu in the chin with an uppercut before his club shot from his hand and carried him into the wall by hitting him in the stomach. He then transformed his hand into an iron sword and lunged at the recovering mage and only managed a shallow cut on Natsu's stomach before he jumped away.

"You like iron huh? How about this iron!" Natsu yelled out punching the metal machine nearby and ripping out two sheets of metal, which he then proceeded to melt with his hands and create metallic gauntlets that hardened around his fist.

He smirked at the surprised expression on Gajeel's face before he relished in the thunderous right hook that resulted from his new fists as Gajeel blasted through the roof of Phantom after ricocheting off some walls. He jumped through the hole he had created and met Gajeel as the man was realigning his jaw from the blow.

"Impressive, but let's get serious now." With this, a powerful green aura flowed all around Gajeel as flames did the same to Natsu before the two jumped off into the air and continued the battle there.

Eventually a human like bullet was sent crashing into the ground just in front of Lucy, who was watching the whole thing with a worried Happy.

Two people jumped out of the wreckage before they launched at each other again. Natsu narrowly dodged a stab by Gajeel's sword hand and roundhouse kicked him in the side of the head with Fire Dragon's Claw. Before he punched him in the stomach with his, now human hands, the metal being destroyed by the two's air battle.

He then grabbed Gajeel's face and braced his other hand on his wrist. "Fire Dragon's Grip Strike!" He yelled, a torrent of flames came bursting forth from his hand to hit Gajeel point blank. He released his grip and watched as the flames carried Gajeel away into a smoldering pile.

Natsu panted heavily, he was exhausted and he was sure Gajeel wouldn't be getting up from that. He turned around to check on Lucy and missed the flying kick from Gajeel that sent him reeling.

Gajeel capitalized on this and sent a kick into Natsu's gut and from that dozens of iron poles grew out of his foot and struck him repeatedly. As he was falling, Gajeel inhaled for his own dragon's roar.

"Iron Dragon's Roar!" He shouted as the metallic vortex slammed into him and blasted him into the wall.

He crawled to his feet, agonizingly slow, and faced Gajeel as he tottered back and forth. Without any fire, he couldn't get the edge on the iron dragon slayer and he'd surely lose his life.

"Lucy! Can you make fire?" Happy asked worriedly, tears flowing from his eyes as he watched his friend begin to get savagely beaten once he was no longer able to defend himself.

"No! But Sagittarius might!" Lucy then pulled out her new golden key she'd gotten from Galuna Island and opened it, revealing her new celestial spirit to be a man dressed in a horse costume.

"Can you make fire?" Lucy asked immediately.

"No I cannot." The horseman answered.

"Happy, fly Lucy away from here!" Natsu ordered out, coughing out blood as Gajeel delivered what may have been the most powerful punch to his stomach he'd gotten so far.

"It's not fair…" Happy began, crying as his friend was about to be killed as the sword at his neck from Gajeel's hand was any indication. "Salamander needs to eat fire to get stronger and Gajeel is surrounded by iron."

"I understand." The horseman said, knocking his bow with several arrows.

"What are you doing?" Lucy asked, confused.

"The question was could I shoot fire. I cannot, but in truth, it's simply if I have a way to _create_ fire." He said as he shot several arrows at Gajeel, who moved out of the way and watched as the arrows pierced a nearby machine and it exploded; consuming Natsu in the process.

Gajeel's eyes widened as the explosion and its fire were quickly swallowed up by his old master. He knew he'd just lost this fight if the manic grin on Natsu's face told him anything.

"You've made a big mistake _Gajeel_!" Natsu threatened, launching himself far faster than Gajeel was capable of responding to, and driving a fiery fist into his face.

Natsu then lit both of his hands on fire before creating a circle with his flames. "Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!"A large plume of fire shot out from in front of Natsu before completely engulfing Gajeel who was carried into the sky by the powerful spell, hitting the ground a smoky body; defeated.

Natsu panted before he fell backwards with a thud, staring at the hole in the ceiling he'd created with a smile. He'd managed to scrape on by with nothing more than the skin of his teeth. The last thing he remembered before he passed out was Lucy and Happy rushing to make sure he was okay.

* * *

Later

* * *

He woke sometime later in what he would call an amazingly soft bed, he was pretty sure he died from…what was it? Oh he didn't care anymore, this bed felt amazing on his beaten body.

"Five more minutes…" He mumbled happily rolling over and pulling the blankets more snug to himself.

"Oh look, he's awake." Gray said casually, poking the man in the face before freezing the man's cheek. The action made him set up in bed with a start.

"Who's there?" He said suddenly, looking around at all of his friends from Fairy Tail around him. They all being there for him made him smile slightly until he looked down and saw a short old man and his face paled.

"Oh no…" Natsu said as soon as he saw Makarov, whom was scratching his chin and analyzing the man sitting in his infirmary.

"So this is the famous Salamander? I didn't think it would be you of all people, but I guess it makes sense." Makarov stated casually as Natsu continued sweating bullets. The words confirmed Erza's suspicion that the two had a previous relationship.

Makarov however noticed this. "Oh relax boy, nobody from the council is around for miles and they won't be for some time."

Natsu became less on edge, but Makarov could tell them anything he wanted right now. "Thank you Salamander. For protecting my children with your life." The old man said suddenly, breaking Natsu out of his worried stupor.

"Oh…you're welcome Makarov, I mean, everybody in this room is my friend. And I'll always protect my friends." He said proudly, making Lucy smile as she recalled the memory of Salamander fighting with every last bit of his power to defeat Gajeel.

"Don't worry boy, I won't say anything unless you want to. But, you do have an agreement with a certain woman here. *cough* don't break it *cough* or she'll find you." Makarov said with a smile, hiding a secret message of warning to him in his fake coughing, something that flew right over his head.

"You sick after fighting Jose old man?" Natsu was now comfortable enough around Makarov to call him by his old nickname.

"Hey! Don't insult our old man you stupid lizard!" Gray said angrily, upset that Salamander would disrespect his master in such a way.

"You just did too! You stupid popsicle stick!" Natsu defended himself, getting out of bed to get in Gray's face.

"I've been busting my ass to get to your level! Let's have a rematch right now!" Gray demanded charging up his magic in his fists.

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Natsu said, his own hands coating themselves in fire.

"Enough!" Erza demanded smacking both of their heads together and forgetting that Natsu was actually in critical condition.

"Aye sir." Both men immediately said. Causing Makarov to openly laugh.

"My boy, you only meet the women on missions and she has you completely under her control. Erza I…" Makarov began going silent at the death glare Erza suddenly sent his way.

"Anyway, Salamander. You promised me you'd tell me everything after I saved you. So start, I've been dying to hear this." True to his wish, Erza still hadn't researched a Natsu that died six years ago. But she was about to break.

"Fine. Makarov you remember who I was right?" When the man shook his head he continued.

"Well, eight years ago or so, Phantom Lord found me after Grimoire Heart destroyed the first guild I was ever in. So, Phantom's master before me was very sick. At the time I was the strongest mage in the guild, also the second youngest. So I became the guild master and tried to keep Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord from killing each other. I was training Jose to take over for me, but that failed after I was forced to fake my death. I trusted Jose to follow my teachings and look how much he tried to do that." Natsu explained, waiting for the reaction.

"So that's what you were so afraid to tell us? You were Phantom's master a while ago? Big deal I was expecting something big and that's all you got? Weak." Gray said, he'd already heard that much from Erza, but she didn't tell him that his name was Natsu.

She rather liked being the only one to call him his name in private.

"Yeah, sorry it's not so juicy. At least not anymore, but I was worried about what would happen if the guy who faked his death to escape council bounty hunters was found alive again. I told you a while ago at Lullaby if the council found me then they'd kill me. No questions asked, I'd just disappear." Natsu continued, avoiding their stares as he knew they would ask for more. And he was a man of his word.

"All right Salamander, why did you fake your death?" Erza asked, she was determined to get to the bottom of this since he'd offered the information up.

He was silent as he looked away from the group. This really could be something that would make Fairy Tail avoid him, he knew of its first master's relationship. But perhaps they didn't.

But thankfully, Makarov saved him. "You're asking a man to reveal what could be crippling information to people who very well could not understand what it could mean. Do you really need to know it?"

Erza considered the question, it really was a burning desire to learn of this information Natsu had. But if he was _this_ hesitant to tell anyone about it, then she wouldn't force him to tell her.

"Aww thanks old man! Thank you too Erza! I'd rather not let this info out!" He said with a beaming grin on his face, wrapping both Erza and Makarov in one armed hugs before letting them both go as Makarov landed on the ground with a thud.

"But I need to get going. I can't stay here for long or the council will be all over me." He said, grabbing the sleeping cat that was his friend and pocketing his booster pills. This was the first time they'd ever failed him and it taught him a valuable lesson.

"Sorry Salamander. You aren't going anywhere with those wounds." Erza said, motioning to the heavily bandaged man. He'd been injured so severely she was surprised he still had full motor function, let alone being able to walk.

"I'm sorry but I have to go. I can't risk it." He said sadly, continuing to prepare his bags as Makarov sighed and handed him a bottle of dark blue liquid.

"What's this?" He asked.

"It's to help with the recovery…stop what are you doing?!" Makarov said as he saw Salamander pop the top off the drink and begin drinking it all with a loud sigh of disgust at the strong taste.

"I'm part dragon old man. I can't overdose." Natsu said with a small smile finishing with his bags and placing Happy on his head.

"You idiot. That was sleeping medication." Makarov said frustrated, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"How is sleeping medication going to help me recover?" He demanded, offended that he'd been lied to.

"It's to help you sleep through the pain once our painkillers wear off." Makarov answered. Amazed at the man's stupidity.

"Oh…" Natsu said slowly, passing out almost immediately afterward.

The four were silent for a moment until Gray groaned. "Great, now we have to hide his heavy ass. Who's carrying him because I'm not doing it."

"Not it."

"Not it."

"Not it."

"Wait, not it…fuck."

After Salamander had been properly hidden, Erza suddenly smacked her forehead.

"I forgot to ask him if he wanted to join."

Makarov placed a hand on her shoulder, using his titan magic to extend his arm to reach her shoulder first. "Now isn't the time to ask that. His guild may very well be disbanded."

Erza thought for a moment before agreeing with her master, she'd ask him the next time she saw him then.

* * *

After Waking Up

* * *

Natsu and Happy walked in silence by the beach, enjoying the silent walk and the sounds of the ocean before Natsu spoke up.

"What do you think changed Jose Happy?" He asked his friend.

The cat shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't know him back then."

"Yeah I guess you're right."

The two continued walking in silence before a strange man concealed completely by a long dark cloak got in their way.

"Who are you?" Natsu asked.

"I should ask you the same thing Natsu-sama." The figure replied, getting to a knee before the dragon slayer who was beginning to fear the worst had happened.

"How do you know who I am?" Natsu demanded.

"I've known for one month Natsu-sama. I learned of you at Lullaby and did my research and confirmed who you were one month ago." The man continued to stay to a knee.

Natsu narrowed his eyes. "Remove your hood."

The man did and under it showed a blue haired man with a red tattoo over his right eye. The sight made Natsu freeze in terror.

"Shit! Siegrain what the hell are you doing here!" Natsu knew full well he needed a booster pill to defeat this man, and in his condition it wouldn't even matter how powerful he was.

"Siegrain is my twin brother. I am Jellal Fernandez." Jellal answered still refusing to lift from his position.

"I didn't think anyone related to Siegrain existed, let alone you being a Zeref worshipper." Natsu said nervously. Unsure how to act around the man.

"Natsu Dragneel, the last living relative to Zeref deserves the respect I am showing as a follower of Zeref." Jellal said suddenly, rising from his knee to look Natsu's stunned face eye to eye.

"How do you-"

"And I need your help. So give me your cat." Jellal demanded, pointing toward the scared Happy, who was now hiding behind Natsu.

"Like hell I'd give him to someone as crazy as you-" Natsu was interrupted by a powerful strike to his stomach followed by a blow to the face that left him flat on his back and unable to move.

"Just…two…punches…"

"You will be at Akane Resort in two weeks. Do not tell anyone of what happened here or he will die."

It didn't take long for Natsu to lose consciousness after Jellal had walked off with an unconscious Happy.

* * *

 **A/N: Oh shit! Natsu had two secrets! Bet you didn't see that one coming did you? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this different take on Phantom after so many of the last chapters have been kind of carbon copies of the actual arc.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Well we finally got to the Tower of Heaven and the ship teasing begins! Now that I think about it, Mashima didn't really start with the real ship teasing until this tower did he? I can't remember any before that but I can remember stuff after.**

 **Anyway, I'll just remind everybody to leave a review if you enjoyed it because my ego grows in tandem with the amount of review I get.**

* * *

Natsu wiped the sweat from his brow and stared at the outline of Akane Resort. It had been two weeks and he was fully healed, the night sky made the city brighten everything and live up to its name of being one of the most famous resorts out there. Why he was supposed to be here he didn't know, but he knew that he would beat the answer out of Jellal. He grit his teeth in frustration before punching through a nearby tree in anger as he remembered that Happy had been stolen from him.

"Why haven't I gotten stronger?" He got so used to having his blue friend around that he forgot he wouldn't get an answer.

He sighed, he'd searched all over the town every day since he'd gotten here and Jellal hadn't made a move. So after the first week, he'd pushed his body to the limits to prepare himself for the battle with Jellal. If Siegrain was as strong as Jellal, then he'd be lucky to survive without his boosters. He was angry about that too, if anything happened to the only other thing he had left of his father besides his scarf, he'd be beyond furious.

He snapped out of his thoughts as he stared at the city before he used his transformation magic and began to enter the city. He looked all over the place before he gave up his search. If Jellal wanted him to be here, then he probably already knew where he was and he'd be approached sooner or later. So he headed into the city's famous casino and sat himself down at the bar.

"You're strongest. Bring some matches too." Natsu said, trying to keep the agitation out of his voice that hadn't left for two weeks.

"All right." The bartender said, dropping a large glass of the drink in front of him and placing a matchbox next to it.

Natsu paid the man and lit the beverage on fire with the match. He smirked a little at the man's face as he drank his new drink. It was always fun lighting drinks on fire and then drinking them to watch people's expressions change. But it wasn't as fun as it normally was without Happy making some sort of fish related comment.

His eyes were glossed over as his mind drifted to all the times he'd spent with Happy. All the jokes, fights, stories, everything that made him and his friend so close.

"Happy…" He didn't notice, but he began to pool his magic in his hand and the glass was beginning to melt.

"Hey buddy, you going to pay for that?" The bartender said angrily, he'd had an awful lot of mages over the years break things. But he was at least respectable enough to get them to pay for the damage they caused.

Natsu snapped out of his memories and stared at the molten glass in his hand before he shrugged apologetically.

"Sorry about that. Here, this should cover it. I'll clean it up while I'm at it." Natsu said, tossing the molten glass into his mouth and eating it before placing a large wad of cash on the counter and walking off. He missed the flabbergasted look on the bartender's face as he attempted to return the money he'd overpaid.

He must have been lost in his thoughts again because he bumped into a familiar face. "Sorry, wasn't paying attention there." Gray said, facing the man he'd bumped into with an apologetic smile on his face. He'd gotten into the habit of apologizing first ever since Salamander whooped his ass when they first met.

Instead of apologizing, Natsu's eyes widened as he looked all around him. Searching for any eavesdroppers.

"Don't worry about it…" He was about to ask Gray what he was doing here, but Jellal's warning flashed in his mind and stopped him from saying anything more.

So instead, he just waved him off and continued walking off in a random direction.

 _'Fairy Tail is here…no that's assuming. At least Gray is here, I really want to ask for his help but I can't…shit. The whole squad is here.'_ Natsu thought to himself, it didn't take him long to spot Erza and Lucy at some sort of gambling table. He wouldn't deny that the dresses they were wearing made them pretty damn appealing eye candy. He sighed heavily, now he'd have to avoid his friends and try and find whatever Jellal wanted him to find at the same time.

Suddenly, the lights went out and Natsu immediately ducked behind a piece of cover and kept his eyes peeled. He wouldn't be taken off guard that easily. A loud crash came from the opposite direction of Erza and Lucy. Gray's direction.

"Dammit." He swore to himself. He turned to run in that direction but his lack of focus for a moment was enough for an imposing figure to appear next to him.

Natsu's eyes widened as the man's spell was the only light he could see. _'How the hell did I miss him?!'_

The spell came down on him like a hammer and blasted him through the stand he was just using for cover. The blow rattled his senses, when he tried to stand he missed that his transformation spell had dropped and left him in his normal attire next to a surprised Erza and Lucy.

The next thing he knew, his hands were bound behind his back and him and Lucy were being held hostage as the lights turned back on. Revealing a group of four people.

One giant and bulky with a metallic jaw. The one who'd attacked him. A man that looked like he'd been carved out by a chisel he was so blocky. A woman who wore a yellow jacket and had several distinct catlike features, especially the cat ears. And a short little blond guy that stared back and forth at him and Erza.

Erza and Lucy looked at Natsu surprised. "Salamander! What are you doing here?" Lucy asked, Erza not saying anything as her eyes were locked on her oldest friends.

But they weren't able to voice their surprise anymore before the short blonde one punched Natsu in the stomach before turning to Erza.

"It's been such a long time sis!" He said with a fake excited grin on his face.

"Sho…" Erza said, realization dawning on her face as her childhood friends showed up after she thought them lost in the tower.

"You have siblings?" Natsu asked, recovering from the, more surprising than painful, punch to the gut and voicing his and Lucy's thoughts.

"No! We were simply prisoners with her in the tower. And now it's time for you to return sister Erza." Sho continued, glaring at Natsu. After Jellal had told him the terrible things that this man had done, he hadn't been able to control himself when he'd struck him earlier.

Erza simply looked mortified and relieved at the same time. A look Natsu didn't originally think could exist.

"What the hell kind of tower are you talking about? You never told me anything about this Erza." Natsu asked, testing the bindings holding him and realizing he could rather easily break them. Even if they kept his magic locked away. Kind of surprised him really, she had a dark past and was super eager to learn his.

Erza looked away as the question posed itself. But Sho answered for her.

"We were prisoners in the Tower of Heaven when we were children. And Erza abandoned us there before Jellal gave us true freedom." Sho said, unable to hide the slight bitterness in his tone.

"I did no such thing! I…" Erza seemingly cut herself off before she spoke anymore. Something was almost physically keeping her from saying the words she desperately wanted to say.

Natsu didn't miss the tightening of the big one's expression during the back and forth. But his mind was locked on two things.

"Jellal…Tower of Heaven…" Natsu said. His expression darkening as a manic grin spread on his face. He hadn't had to don his Salamander persona for some time, but he knew full well what the Tower of Heaven was and he was going to enjoy venting some of his anger.

"N-Salamander! How do you know Jellal?" Erza asked surprised, what could Jellal have wanted with someone like Natsu?

"Salamander, I don't want you to blow your top since we work for Jellal. So, I'm going to play my trump card." Sho said, and with a snap of his fingers, the people all around them turned into playing cards and the wrapping that bound Lucy tightened to the point her body jerked viciously backwards and she yelled out in pain.

"Lucy!" Natsu and Erza yelled simultaneously. If they were angry before, they were pissed now.

"Don't act too hasty sis! If you resist and don't come with us willingly, you too Salamander, then Milliana will snap the blond girl's spine like a twig and these people will lose the oxygen in those cards I have so generously provided." Sho said wickedly, a traitor like Erza and the scum of the Earthland like Salamander couldn't possibly have good friends.

"You snot nosed little bastard…I could snap your little fucking neck without a second thought…" Natsu threatened, his eyes dangerously flashing red due to the intensity of his anger and his fire.

"Salamander stop. We'll go, just release Lucy and the people." Erza pleaded, finding the lives of her friends more important than both her and Natsu's pride.

But Natsu suddenly stared at her, not angry but confused. But his anger was clearly still there. He laughed slightly as his expression darkened considerably.

"Sorry Erza. But if you think I'm going to show my face to Jellal in chains…then you have another thing coming!" Natsu yelled, suddenly tearing the restraints binding him before setting Lucy's bindings on fire and grabbing her and tossing her at a surprised Erza.

Before Sho could use the hostages to his advantage, Natsu grabbed his head and slammed it into the cat woman's before turning around and catching a bullet to the face. Fired from the blocky man's hand that had transformed into a cannon.

He smirked before he gasped in surprise. Natsu was standing there and holding the bullet that he'd caught in his teeth before he crushed it and growled menacingly at the blocky man. He ended his fear with a single punch that made him spin on the spot and knocked him out cold. He turned his sights on the large man who had been startled by his speed and strength before Natsu jumped over the man and kicked him in the back of the head. Sending him flat on his face in front of a surprised Erza and Lucy who had just managed to put out the fire on her clothes.

Erza watched the exchange with a cryptic glare as Natsu stalked over Sho who cowered and crawled back into the corner. She hadn't ever seen Natsu this mad before, what was bothering him? It had something to do with Jellal and by extension it had something to do with her. So she grabbed Natsu's hand as it was about to strike Sho and commanded him to stop. Telling Lucy to go find Gray while she sorted things out with Salamander.

"Now why would I do that? He's going to tell me where Jellal is. Then after that, I'm going to kick his teeth down his rotten fucking throat. Jellal's teeth, I'll probably just yank out Sho's here with a rusty screwdriver." Natsu said dangerously, jerking his hand out of her grasp and grabbing Sho by his collar before slamming him threateningly against the wall.

"Salamander! What is your problem with Jellal?" Erza demanded, she may have an unknown stance towards him. But Natsu seemingly hated him.

"Oh just a couple of reasons." Natsu began happily before his face twitched in anger and suppressed tears. "He's trying to revive a wizard so powerful and demonic that he could singlehandedly slaughter the entirety of the world with a machine I long thought destroyed. And he kidnapped Happy! I could deal with Zeref! But he came and kidnapped Happy and this little shitbag here is threatening the friends I have right here and thinks he can get away with it! Now listen here _Sho_..."

Said man was shaking at the demonic look in Salamander's eyes. What was looking at him simply couldn't be human, it truly terrified him and made him feel like a child in the Tower of Heaven again before Jellal took over.

"You're going to take me to Jellal, kiss my feet the entire way, and if you take me even one foot in the wrong direction I will feed you your own fucking testicles!" Natsu growled out, flames singing the man as they spurted out from his mouth with every breath.

"Natsu!" Erza said harshly, shocking him out of his anger and ignoring the trembling man in his grasp.

"Don't say that name here." Natsu said quietly, dropping the terrified boy and watching him crawl away into a corner.

"I didn't know Jellal had kidnapped Happy. But I did know he was building the tower. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you that back when you told me that everything that involves Zeref involves you. But…" Erza stumbled on her words as she began delving into her past in the hell of her childhood.

Natsu sighed heavily and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder to stop her. "I figured that out, that place was like a hellhole I can fill the blanks in myself. The Tower of Heaven is kind of my fault…"

Erza's head snapped up at the words. "What on Earthland do you mean?"

He sighed and looked away from her. "I had the chance to storm the place eight years ago and free everyone in it. But I passed on it, I thought I was too weak and I couldn't do it alone." If he had known she was a member in that damn tower back then he wouldn't have hesitated to tear that infernal eye sore of a tower to the ground brick by despicable brick.

She surprised him by turning his head to look at her firm eyes. "Don't dwell on the past and what you could have done. You made a calculated decision and played it safe, that was the smart thing."

He smiled before he turned and stomped on the hand of Sho who was trying to sneak away. "You go get the boat ready before I disembowel you." He ordered, watching the little man run off.

Erza frowned. "Don't be so hard on him. I'm positive Jellal has lied to him somehow and painted me as the villain."

"Does Siegrain actually have a twin brother?" Natsu asked suddenly, putting a hand underneath his chin and beginning to think.

"Yes, why?" She asked confused.

"The Tower of Heaven needs a huge, and I mean _huge_ , amount of magic to be used. Not mentioning the saint wizard level living sacrifice. I could understand dragging me there because I was a saint wizard. But I don't understand why he would tell his lackeys to drag you there." Natsu continued to think, something didn't seem to click right and the more he thought about it the more the answer seemed to stare him in the face.

"I could explain that…Jellal was also a prisoner of the tower." Erza said tentatively.

He kept silent, knowing this was a touchy subject for her and waited until she felt comfortable.

"Jellal was a lot like you when he was young. He was passionate, hotheaded, rebellious, and had a drive to be free from the tower. When I first met him, I didn't know my real surname." Erza began letting out a shaky breath and requiping back into her armor. No longer feeling comfortable with just her dress.

"You mean Scarlet isn't your real last name?" Natsu asked confused.

She shook her head. "Nope, when we were introducing ourselves I just said my name was Erza. He eventually said that he'd come up with a name and picked Scarlet. Because it was the same color as my hair and it would be hard to forget." She smiled fondly at the old memory before he changed.

"Hey, I said that." Natsu pointed out. He had in fact said something similar when he'd first met Erza. Maybe he and Jellal were a lot alike. That particular thought made him want to vomit.

She smiled at his bluntness. "You did. After that, we just became a closer group of friends and dreamed of escaping the tower together and rebelling against the guards one day. I was falsely blamed and after being brutally tortured and losing my right eye, Jellal stepped up and took the punishment for me." She didn't bother explaining that her new right eye was a prosthetic since he seemed to nod his head as if he already suspected it.

Natsu suddenly began thinking again before he posed a question. "It sounds like you two were really close. What happened after that?"

She frowned but blushed slightly at the memories that surfaced between her and a young Jellal. "We were close. After he took the torture for me…he changed into the Jellal we know now."

He continued to rub at his chin in thought. "Did you love him?" He wasn't all that smart in love, but something told him that he'd need to tell her something she probably wouldn't want to hear.

"Probably…" she said, a blush adorning her face as she absentmindedly played with a strand of her hair.

That pretty much told him what he needed to know. "You friend Jellal, if what you're saying about him is true, he and I should be pretty good friends. So by that logic, and self experience, his mind snapped from being tortured when he was young. I can guess that much." Natsu sighed as he posed another question.

"Do you still care about him? I'm not asking if you love him, I'm asking if you still care about the kid he used to be."

Erza suddenly lost her embarrassment and stared hard at Natsu. "How could I not want to save him? He's still lost in his own pain and I might be able to save him-"

Natsu held a hand up to stop her. "Erza, I've been on the darker side of magic longer than you've been a mage. People that lose themselves like that…don't come back. I won't stop you from trying, but if you can't do it by the time I get to him then you're out of time because I'm going to throw his ass off the tower."

She was about to argue the fact, but Jellal was already a lost man in Natsu's eyes and she couldn't blame him or bring herself to stop him. After all, Jellal had kidnapped Happy and Natsu was willing to go to war for the people he cared about and Jellal had given plenty of reasons to go to war.

"All right. I'll accept that. Why did you ask if I loved him though?" She asked, why did it matter if she loved him? That didn't make sense. Maybe she had when she was a child, but what did that have to do with anything now?

Before he could respond, a certain ice wizard's voice surprised them. Followed by Lucy and a third surprising face that made Natsu's eyes widen. "Salamander! Erza! What happened?" He'd stopped questioning why Salamander showed up wherever they were, and by the unconscious people around he knew it was for something legitimate this time.

Natsu stepped up. "Erza's ex-boyfriend went nuts, kidnapped Happy, sent her old friends to capture her and me to revive an ancient wizard powerful enough to slaughter every mage on the planet with no effort, and all that _really_ pissed me off."

"He is not my ex." Erza said defensively. Why did she care suddenly if Jellal was her boyfriend in the past?

Gray and Lucy looked at one another, ignoring Erza's comment entirely. "He kidnapped Happy?" Lucy said worriedly, she may not like the little blue bastard much. But he was her friend and she knew now, more than anything, that Fairy Tail would fight to the bitter end for its friends.

"Yeah…two weeks ago. Just after I left Magnolia he showed up and kicked my ass and kidnapped Happy. He's utterly insane and knows everything about me. Even more than you guys know." Natsu explained, still furious with himself that he'd let something like that happen in the first place.

Gray stopped and thought for a moment. "Then let's go kick his ass!"

He and Natsu fist bumped before he glanced at the water wizard staring at him with analytical eyes.

"Recognize me yet Juvia?" He asked with a smile. He'd wanted to run into her back at Phantom but he got Gajeel instead. Iron eating fuckhead.

"Master N-" Juvia began before a hand from Natsu interrupted her.

"You're right, but right now isn't the time to call me that. Call me Salamander." At this Juvia's eyes lit up like Christmas Trees before she almost tackled the pink haired man.

"Juvia heard from Gajeel-kun that you were alive! Juvia is so happy!" Juvia said crying tears of happiness into her master's chest that dissolved into her own water body.

"Yeah. I'm alive Juvia. Sorry about that." Natsu said with a smile. Patting the water wizard's head while she cried.

He looked around at the strange looks he was getting from his friends. "What? I was the master of Phantom Lord and I raised this girl for like three years. She had a crappy past." This explanation seemed to satisfy their curiosity but it didn't stop the weird glances.

Suddenly Sho came back and bowed at Natsu's feet, declaring that the boat was ready. Gray and Lucy looked curiously as Natsu and Sho walked off.

"He scared him half to death, should of heard him it was terrifying. Come on let's go." Erza began, grabbing the unconscious bodies of her former friends and carrying them with ease outside and onto a boat while Gray and Lucy looked at each other with looks of disbelief. Juvia knew full how terrifying her old master could be when he was angered.

The sight that awaited them was not something they expected, what awaited them was a green in the face Salamander as he laid flat on his ass from his motion sickness they didn't know he had.

"Are you okay Salamander?" Lucy asked, worried about her friend as he sat and puked over the railing suddenly.

"No…motion sickness…really bad…" He began hurling again at just the act of explaining it made him nauseous.

Despite the terrifying Salamander having horrible motion sickness, Sho was still far too terrified to say a damn thing. Gray found him and looked for 3.2 nanoseconds before laughing his ass off. Juvia saw him and simply patted his head knowing nothing made this go away. Erza found him and knocked him unconscious and placed his head on her lap. The sight confusing everyone on the ship greatly.

"I'm simply trying to make the trip for him as painless as possible." Erza replied, placing her hand on the side of his head and absentmindedly ran her fingers through his hair.

Gray and Lucy wore expressions that showed that they were absolutely convinced at the completely Erza like answer. Juvia and Sho still looked horribly confused.

At seeing her old friends angry eyes and that most of them had started to regain consciousness, Erza laid Natsu down and began tossing the friends whose lives she'd always been protecting, down the stairs and into the cargo hold. Herself following shortly afterward.

"Salamander." Gray said suddenly, poking the groaning man in the ribs with his foot. "How close are you with Erza?"

Natsu didn't miss the defensive tone in his voice. 'Why…do you…care…" He wheezed out, anymore speaking and he was going to puke.

He lowered himself to the man's level and spoke in a whisper. Ignoring the penetrative stare from Juvia as she tried to strip him with just her mind. "Because I don't want her getting hurt. She's a bit closer to you than the rest of us, why is that? I saw her save you from falling back at Phantom and when I saw her face again, she was all giddy for some reason and she kept looking at her hand. What did you guys talk about?"

"Oh…OH…you think we're…" He didn't want to finish that sentence and was quite happy that his answer was easily interpretable, even unfinished.

"I had a suspicion. Before what you said earlier I wouldn't have cared who caught her eye. But now that I know her past is pretty shitty, in the romantic department especially, I'll just be blunt." Gray said, grasping the motion sick man's shirt by the hem and coating his hand in magic.

"If you break her heart, I will break you." Gray said menacingly. Natsu could feel how far the ice mage had come in such a short time. He could give him a run for his money for a good while considering he was the perfect element to fight him.

Natsu just smiled and laughed softly. "I think she'd appreciate the concern, but you don't have to worry about something like that. I couldn't ever win her heart." He forced himself to speak his words without any pause and forced the motion sickness to the back of his mind for as long as he could to speak his piece without any idiotic interruption.

He stared for a little more before sighing and releasing him. "If that's how you see it. Then I won't worry about her then." He then got up and kept the boat going in the direction Sho had given him.

Eventually, Natsu felt his motion sickness melt away as his head was placed on a familiar lap and he sighed in bliss as his mind wasn't assaulted by those horrid urges to puke.

"Where did you go my guardian angel~." Natsu said dreamily, completely missing how his words could be interpreted.

"D-Don't call me that!" She whispered harshly, and embarrassed blush rising to her face at the rumors that could spread. Honestly, he and her? Involved? The idea couldn't have been more idiotic.

Though, in her honest opinion, it wouldn't be _that_ bad.

He was after all, what a spitting image of what a Fairy Tail wizard should be. Brave, brash, hardheaded, quick to make friends, and a sense of familiar bonds that he would protect until his dying breath.

She must have been caught up in thoughts for some time since Lucy came and tapped her shoulder to get her attention. And she shivered once the sight of the tower filled her vision.

"Is that the Tower of Heaven Erza?" She asked, eyes overflowing with worry for the women who was clearly uncomfortable being there. She understood that saying you were going there was one thing, but actually stepping foot in the tower was another matter all together.

"Yes. Yes it is." Was all she could say, this place was something that she'd never get over.

The boat suddenly lurched forward, as Gray didn't bother docking it properly, and the group slowly disembarked. Erza informing everyone that she explained what really happened back at the tower and her old friends were now on their side.

Though Sho still seemed like he was on the verge of having a mental breakdown. Even after Natsu apologized for his behavior, he still seemed on edge for some reason.

Natsu moved to enter the front door but was stopped by the group, to his great annoyance. "Why did you stop me?"

"We need to be cautious, I know you're angry Salamander. But you can't just throw caution to the wind because of that." Erza admonished, she doubted that even Natsu could stand up to Jellal on his own.

He looked thoughtful for a moment before he snapped his fingers. "Juvia, check if there's an underground entrance that you can lead us through."

Juvia looked embarrassed for a moment. "Juvia already looked on the way here. You didn't notice because you were sleeping on Erza's lap."

"That makes it even better. You guys go through the tower secretly while I raise hell. Got it? Good." Natsu said, turning back to face the door while Juvia was already forming oxygen bubbles for the group.

"Salamander. You are-" Erza's voice was stopped when a surprisingly hot coat of fire coated Natsu's body as she reached to grab him.

"Sorry Erza, I _need_ this." Natsu said, his expression darkening greatly as his face contorted in anger before he ordered Juvia to drag them all through the water with nothing but a look.

Erza fought off Juvia's water pull by requiping into her Sea Empress Armor and rose to the surface to see Natsu had already begun his assault on the tower.

"That damn idiot." Erza growled, climbing back onto the shore. "You all go on without me! I'll keep Salamander safe!"

Even though they all looked worried, no one argued when Juvia threatened to suffocate them.

Erza sighed and ran into the building, seeing several magical soldiers pressuring Natsu. Many cultists were unconscious with burn marks and destruction already coating the tower in the short time she had not seen him. The destruction all pointed to something she already knew, Natsu was _pissed_.

She requiped into her Black Wing armor and slashed one of the magical soldiers that was approaching Natsu's blind spot. She ducked when a Fire Dragon's Claw was sent soaring over her crouched form and toasted the several magical soldiers that popped out of nowhere.

"Why are you here?" Natsu said angrily while standing back to back with Erza as more enemies showed themselves.

"You need some form of backup. Plus, Gray and Juvia are very accomplished mages. Gray especially since he met you. Lucy is no slouch either." Erza said, finishing the observation of the sights around her. The place was different, but it was still her own personal hell.

Natsu sighed before he smirked at all the people around the two of them. "Half of Team Salamander is still Team Salamander. Let's kick some ass."

She groaned audibly and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "It's not Team Salamander."

* * *

With Jellal

* * *

Jellal sat on his throne with a smirk on his face. "I didn't know Salamander was _this_ friendly with Fairy Tail. Has he always been this way Happy?" Jellal asked, offering another fish towards the cat to keep him from yelling.

Happy glared vehemently at Jellal, but accepted the fish regardless. He'd made it clear that even his prisoners were still people in his eyes and deserved decent treatment. Even if he wasn't a person per say.

"Natsu will destroy you. Even if you're stronger, he'll still win!" Happy answered the man; even if Natsu didn't have access to his booster pills he wouldn't need them. He was strange, Happy fully thought he was insane. But he acted like a decent human being, Jellal.

Jellal smirked before turning to Raven Tail trio with a blank face. "Intercept the guests attempting to enter stealthily, kill them if you can. Ikaruga, you stay and intercept Salamander and Titania. Let whichever one wants to pass and defeat the other."

The trio consisting of a large built man with an owl head, a rock guitarist with the full get up with makeup and electric guitar magical amplification device, and the old style samurai woman, all nodded in agreement and moved out. Once they were gone, Jellal pulled out several visual lacrimas and focused them on the groups that had split up. They being Gray, Simon, Sho, and Wally. The other being Lucy, Juvia, and Milliana.

Jellal grinned ear to ear as Natsu and Erza utterly dominated any challenge in front of them. "Which one will face me?" He mused to himself, ignoring the cat sitting in his cage and his retort.

He pulled out a chess board and placed eight pieces on his board that represented the eight who were storming his tower. He then placed his four pieces on the opposite and grinned.

"Let the game begin."

* * *

With Natsu and Erza

* * *

The two of them finished with the group of enemies and began running through the tower only to reach a three way fork in the road. Two of the directions had the scents of their friends but one was empty.

"Our friends already went through here. This is the only way they didn't go." Natsu said, using his nose to determine which way they didn't go.

"Then let's get moving." Erza said, she was beginning to feel anxiety rear its disgusting little head as she got even closer to her long awaited confrontation with Jellal. Though, the closer it got, the less she actually wanted to do it.

"Don't forget I'm here." Natsu began in their run, drawing Erza's attention to him. "If you can't handle Jellal, then I'll be there and I won't let him do a damn thing you don't want him to. Please tell me you don't want him to be able to breathe without help." He joked, smelling her increasing fear as they got even farther into the tower.

She laughed at the little joke, forgetting her fear as the man next to her made her forget it. "You won't have to, I _will_ save him." She said with absolute conviction, if she was going to save Jellal then she would have to be absolutely sure of herself.

"That won't be possible, there is no reason to save a man who doesn't want to be saved." Said a voice as the two entered a room that reflected traditional Japanese temples with the large arcs over a bridge and over a personalized lake.

"Who are you?" Erza asked, not liking her private conversation being overheard.

"Which of you is going to fight Jellal? One of you is allowed to pass, the other will face me." Ikaruga answered with a sense of superiority at the two.

"You do it." Both of the answered, pointing at the other and blinking in surprise.

"I'm stronger!" Natsu suddenly said, ignoring the third person in front of them.

"I have more of a reason to fight Jellal Salamander!" Erza argued her point. Why was this suddenly an argument?

"I have one too! He kidnapped Happy!" Natsu countered.

Their bickering caused a sweatdrop to form on the irritated face of Ikaruga. She drew her sword and placed it underneath Natsu's chin. "Jellal has more-"

To her surprise, Natsu interrupted her by grabbing her sword.

"But out!" The both of them yelled, delivering two simultaneous punches to the unprepared woman's face and knocking her unceremoniously into the water. Unconscious.

"Now where were we? Oh yeah-" It suddenly occurred to the two of them that their obstacle was no longer an obstacle.

"Oh hey, she's gone." Natsu said suddenly, scratching his head in confusion.

"Where'd she go?" Erza also commented, shrugging her shoulders before pulling Natsu along to go and reach Jellal.

* * *

With Jellal

* * *

"I didn't expect it to…go so well for the two of them." Jellal said, scratching his cheek idly in surprise. He thought Natsu would happily let Erza go through. But now that he thought about it, he'd pissed them both off quite a bit. So it made sense that they'd both want to fight him. So now he was forced to remove Ikaruga's piece and let it join the other nine pieces on the floor. Leaving just him, Natsu, and Erza.

"Natsu's coming. You don't stand a chance against him and Erza!" Happy taunted from his cage with a grin.

Jellal couldn't help but feel himself become a tad bit more nervous. If the council didn't fire the Etherion soon he would lose before Siegrain would reach him and be at the power level he fought Natsu at previously.

His nervousness was misplaced as soon after Ikaruga was knocked into the water, she reached out and dragged Natsu in with her, him yelling to Erza to continue on without him while he dealt with this 'samurai wannabe cunt'.

* * *

Back with Natsu

* * *

Natsu heated his finger to the temperature of a welding torch and cauterized the cut on his cheek shut with a fanged grin as the woman in front of him stared angrily.

"Come on. Cunt." Natsu said again, using the word that got her so angry in the first place and made a come here gesture with his hand.

The woman felt a vein burst in her forehead and lunged at the man in front of her. But quickly found herself on the defensive. The rumors surrounding The Salamander's power were no joke as the man could turn the tables at the drop of a hat and enrage her at the same time.

He knocked the wind from her with a blow to the stomach by his foot. He was supposed to be the fire dragon slayer and he wasn't even using his magic to fight her. She reached out and used all of her speed to slash at the man's chest. Tearing his vest open and creating a gash which visibly made him recoil.

She lunged forward to use his moment of pause to her advantage but jumped backwards as her instincts screamed at her to run. She listened and soon found a plume of fire consume where she had just been standing.

He visibly shook as he saw the blood coat his hand and drip off his chest before he heated his entire hand up to the point it closed up the wound and just dragged his hand across the wound, causing the woman to gape slightly as he purposefully injured himself even more than was necessary.

He grinned at her and suddenly coated his finger in a bright flame and created several symbols in the air that stood above him. After he was done with that, he blasted a ton of fire at her that she dodged by rolling to the left. But the pressure remained on Ikaruga as the fire homed in on her.

Was it her imagination or was the ball of fire chasing her getting bigger, brighter, and even more hot?

The ball of fire stopped chasing her and retreated to the center of the room before she realized that Salamander had been biding time as he held his hands out in a praying stance as he held a very concentrated gaze on his face.

She noticed the victorious grin on his face and realized he had been chanting something.

"Fire Dragon's Sun Bomb!"

A large explosion filled her sight before she lost consciousness.

* * *

Outside the Tower

* * *

The tower suddenly had plumes of fire shoot out menacingly from a certain floor near the top and the group immediately realized what had happened.

"Salamander's angry." Gray said through gritted teeth, Fukuro really fukoroed him up before he won their fight.

Juvia simply nodded her head. "Master never has liked holding back."

* * *

Back With Natsu

* * *

Natsu said nothing and simply walked out of the room and made sure his message was still written out in the room above where he'd laid Ikaruga down so she wouldn't drown and she could read it.

It read _'I win cunt.'_

He didn't know how much time he wasted on Ikaruga, but he knew he needed to hurry to help Erza. She was strong but he didn't think she was strong enough to defeat Jellal.

Imagine his surprise when he found the two of them embracing in the room. He was confused for a moment before what she said earlier surfaced to his mind and he smiled while he shook his head.

"I didn't think you could. You made good use of the time I gave you Erza." Natsu said, approaching the two of them and seeing what looked like both of them were about to sob.

Erza jumped at the voice but simply smiled at her friend after breaking from the embrace. "I told you I would save him."

Natsu's smile faltered a little bit at the way they held one another but he turned to the beaten looking Jellal and ignored the weird feeling in his gut. "Where's Happy?"

"Over there Natsu. I'm sorry for what happened. I knocked him unconscious while I was being manipulated." Jellal answered handing him the key. Natsu surprised him by melting the key and turning to the cage before setting it ablaze and tearing the cage apart. Happy not getting burnt even the slightest.

Tears ran down his face while he embraced Happy, whom regained consciousness at the warmth Natsu's flames gave him.

"Natsu! You made it!" Happy exclaimed crying into his best friends shoulder as Natsu comforted him.

Jellal placed a hand on Erza's back and smiled at her. "I'm happy you never gave up on me-" Jellal was interrupted by a furious Natsu punching him across the room and into the wall.

"Natsu! Calm down! That's not the same Jellal that kidnapped Happy!" Erza said hurriedly, placing herself in between the two men as Jellal crawled to his feet.

Natsu wordlessly turned her around by force and placed his hand where Jellal had and burned away the small spell circle he saw planted there by Jellal. Just as he thought.

"No different my ass! He put a binding snake on you!" Natsu said, but before he could get her reaction the tower started shaking and Jellal started laughing.

"It's too late to realize it now Erza! The council is going to fire Etherion thanks to my brother's insistence." Jellal said, a mad grin settling onto his face.

"No! You can't possibly be saying the truth!" Erza said, tears beginning to surface to her face that Jellal had simply used her feeling towards him to manipulate her.

"Erza calm down. Etherion won't do anything." Natsu realized that Etherion was just going to be absorbed by the giant lacrima that the Tower of Heaven was in reality.

Erza stared at him incredulously, but Jellal started laughing loudly again.

"I expect nothing less from you Natsu Dragneel!" Jellal said, before the rumbling stopped and a bright light began engulfing the tower.

Erza began shaking, how was Etherion _not_ going to destroy the tower? But suddenly, she was drawn into a fierce hug by ridiculously warm and strong arms.

"Don't worry. I'm here and you trust me right?" He whispered into her ear as the light consumed his entire vision. He damn well better have been right about this.

Erza stopped shaking and returned the embrace as a mysterious warmth spread through her chest. "I trust you."

She contented herself by burying herself even more in his arms and braced herself for anything.

When the light faded and the only thing left standing was a giant blue lacrima, she was not prepared for it. But she was alive if Natsu's heart beat ringing in her ears was any indication.

"Told you to trust me. Now stop crying, I don't like you crying like that." Natsu said, separating them and giving her a gentle squeeze on the shoulder to calm her nerves.

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, she didn't even notice she had been crying.

"You liiike her!" Happy said with a perverse giggle floating out of reach of his friends annoyed swipe.

"Not the time. Get her out of here." Natsu said suddenly, tossing Erza into Happy's floating grasp.

"Natsu!" Was all she was able to say before Happy had taken off in a random direction.

He watched her go with a smile on his face before he turned and glared darkly at Jellal whom was grinning. "Does Erza have a certain dragon's heart in her hand? How adorable." He said mockingly, before staring just as darkly at the man as he was staring at him.

Their magic flared up around them and was bright enough to look like a second sun. Natsu hadn't said a word since Erza had left and his bangs covered his eyes when their magical show died down. He was gripping his fists so tight that his arms were shaking.

"You made her cry. You used how much she cared about you against her. You used her like a toy and tossed her to the side. Why did you even target her?" Natsu said, blood beginning to steadily drip down from his clenched fists as his hands were gripped so tight.

Jellal grinned as the giant lacrima seemingly hummed in delight once Natsu's blood hit it. "Because it was either of you. If I brought you here, then it would have been an easy game to win. If I just brought her then it would have been even easier. If I brought you both then the risk of one of you accidently dying became zero and the plan could succeed no matter which one of you wanted to be the sacrifice."

Natsu's vision became red before he felt the presence of another behind him. When he turned he saw the last person he wanted to see. Siegrain.

"Hello Salamander, long time no see. Well, technically I saw you two weeks ago." Siegrain said standing next to his brother with a smirk on his face.

Natsu spit on the ground, an action that made Jellal and Siegrain twitch in anger. "You could have an army of you two and I'd pummel you into the ground."

Jellal and Siegrain suddenly looked confused. "Both? There is only one person here…" At this, both Siegrain and Jellal fused into the same body and Jellal's magical pressure instantly doubled.

"We were always one in the same. Natsu Dragneel, when Siegrain fought you, he fought you with half of the power I currently possess." Jellal said, smirking in delight at the shocked expression on Natsu's face.

But Natsu's surprise turned into confidence. "Good! Because since then I've become twice as strong! Wouldn't want this to be easy!"

Jellal shook his head and snapped his head up at Natsu's charge. It had begun.

He dodged a punch with ease and parried a kick before hitting Natsu in the back with a burst of magic that sent him rolling. He got up immediately and was on the offensive again, Jellal blocked one strike but didn't expect flames to coil around his arm and hold it in place. His moment of surprise was more than enough for Natsu to place his hand on Jellal's face and brace his other hand with it.

"Fire Dragon's Grip Strike!" He yelled, consuming the man in a fiery vortex and launching him into the nearby wall of the lacrima.

Laughter made its way through the dust and to his ears confusing him. Shouldn't that have melted the bastard's face?

To his surprise, Jellal climbed out of the dust without a scratch and craned his neck. As if all his attack did was create discomfort.

"You're a hundred years to early to fight me. And you're a thousand years too early if you think you can win Erza's heart buddy. She's got it bad for me and I kind of still want it!" Jellal said with a manic grin upon seeing Natsu's surprised expression.

"Shut up!" Natsu yelled in frustration. Slamming his foot down on the lacrima and making a chunk of it float in front of him. He then kicked the giant piece a Jellal who caught it in surprise.

He sat the piece down gently and caught Fire Dragon's Claw to his face. While he was flying, Natsu rushed to intercept his path and brought his fist down like a hammer on the man and sent him crashing against the floor where it shattered spectacularly. He then placed his foot down to hold him in place and brought his hands up to his mouth.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" He poured everything he had into his father's flames and was at least happy he felt Jellal yell out. But he wasn't happy when Jellal grabbed his leg and quickly rose to his feet before spinning him around and tossing him headfirst into the lacrima walls again hard enough for his head to ring.

He shook his head to clear the dizziness and had the pleasure of taking a powerful knee to the gut before a punch to his face sent him reeling backwards.

He could hear Jellal snickering while he tried to get to his feet.

"You aren't strong enough. Period Natsu. It doesn't matter what you do you're going to become a sacrifice for Zeref! Even if you manage to escape, when Erza comes back to give you those boosters of yours then I'll just make her the sacrifice." He couldn't help but taunt the man who dare defied the perfect world by refusing to give him his body to revive Zeref.

Natsu's face twisted in rage. He wiped the blood from his mouth and stood his ground. "Kill me or whatever. I don't care, but I'm not gonna let you hurt her anymore!"

He paused to bring a hand to his chest. "I don't care what happens to this body. If I can't ever use magic again, if I can't ever walk again, if I can't ever speak again, I don't care."

Jellal snickered at the display. The man was at least passionate about what he believed in. "Then prove it to me Dragneel. Show me how much damage that body can take!"

Their bodies were consumed by their magic again and this time it didn't die down; instead only continuing to rise in power and ferocity until they vanished from sight.

The two met in the center with their fists driven into the other's face before they jumped back again. Jellal used his meteor spell to gain the upper hand with his immense speed, but Natsu was close enough to his level to predict the movements and counter accordingly, though it failed after Jellal just increased his speed to the max and began peppering Natsu with hit and run tactics as he tried desperately to keep up with Jellal's overwhelming speed.

Jellal appeared in front of him and blasted his face point blank with his celestial magic and slamming the man into a piece of the lacrima that had risen up just to block his path.

"Where did all that charisma and spunk go Natsu? You look like a beaten man." Jellal said to the panting and exhausted mage, the wounds from his fight with Ikaruga opening up again and causing the blood to slowly pool at his feet.

Natsu's hand reached out to grasp Jellal by the collar and slammed his head into the man's nose. Breaking it and causing an excited grin to split his face as Jellal backpedaled to tend to his broken nose.

Natsu charged and punched him in the gut before jumping up and bringing a roundhouse into the man's face before hitting him with an uppercut that ended his exchange. To his surprise, this didn't really stagger Jellal either and the man simply floated there in the air while he looked at Natsu visibly enraged.

"I'll show you why you're inferior to me Natsu Dragneel. Because you've succeeded in pissing me off!" Jellal said through gritted teeth before he sent another burst of magic at Natsu who jumped to the side to dodge it.

He rolled to his feet after dodging Jellal's attack and had to lean backwards to dodge another one. But Jellal was expecting this and suddenly appeared over him before he could react and blasted him point blank again and sending him flat against the ground.

He flew away a small distance and just kept firing his magic at the downed man who was forced to just endure the blast to the best of his ability until Jellal stopped just before he was about to lose his mind to the pain.

Jellal went into the sky and brought his hands together before seven magical circles formed a constellation behind him.

"Grand Chariot! The seven circles flew down and slammed into the mage who was only just able to crawl to his feet and was blown away at the power of the spell as it nearly leveled the top floor of the tower with its power.

When the smoke cleared, Natsu was left face down on the floor with a smirking Jellal floating down to stand just in front of him before slamming his foot down in the back of his head.

"I told you that you were a hundred years to early to fight me. With the power Zeref has granted me, I'm unbeatable!" Jellal taunted to the beaten mage, smirking in delight when he muttered something unintelligible.

"What was that?" He said, kneeling and grabbing a fistful of his pink hair and twisting it while he pulled the exhausted mage off the ground.

"I said…fuck you." Natsu said, spitting out a tiny amount of blood from his mouth and hitting Jellal's cheek, turning his smirk into a look of rage before he slammed his head into the ground and left an imprint.

"You have a vulgar mouth. You should fix that…oh wait you can't because you're about to be a sacrifice!" Jellal said with a mad cackling. Snapping his fingers as a chunk of lacrima rose up out of the ground for Jellal to slam his body into by his skull.

"You're the second most perfect candidate for reviving Zeref, Natsu Dragneel! Only fitting for a demon such as yourself to die for."Jellal said.

Natsu was far too tired to say anything, his head hung limply as the lacrima pulled his beaten body in without resistance and sucked away the magic in his body bit by bit. He didn't even register the pain, he was already in too much to know anymore.

"I thank you Natsu! With you being the sacrifice, perhaps I can-" Jellal was interrupted by a powerful kick sending him tumbling away.

"Natsu!" He heard someone yell his name before he was yanked out of the lacrima by a familiar scent.

"Erza…" Natsu wheezed out, just simply being awake was starting to hurt.

"Here, eat this." Erza said, presumably giving him one of his boosters.

He reached a hand out to grab it but his hand fell limply to his side before he could even reach the pill. As beaten as he was, even if he ate it then it wouldn't matter.

"Natsu. Hey Natsu! Wake up!" Erza shouted in worry, laying her friend on his back and trying to get him to speak.

"Erza…is he going to be okay?" Happy said, tears threatening to spill from his eyes as he clutched the bottle that they thought would save him.

Erza looked darkly at the unconscious man in front of her before she turned to the cat. "Happy, did he ever tell you what would happen if…someone other than him ate his pills?"

Happy moved to say something but Natsu stirred below them. "You'd most likely die Erza…"

She stared at him and back at the pill in her hand when she heard her childhood friend say something behind her.

"Why don't you come and try me Erza? You could handle me before couldn't you?" He taunted, almost laughing at the sight of Erza fretting over the man. Would she still defend him like that if she knew his secret? He would have to find out.

Erza turned and stood protectively in front of Natsu and stared hard at the pill in her hand.

 _'If Natsu couldn't beat him…then I can't either. Unless…'_ She made her decision and brought the pill to her mouth but Jellal stopped her with a question.

"Would you still eat that if you knew his secret Erza? What he has been hiding from you? I can tell you." Jellal tempted her. He wouldn't lie, the fight with Natsu actually drained him decently. Natsu wasn't a pushover and if he had his pills with him he certainly would have a chance at losing

Erza looked back at unconscious man and smiled as the memories of him fighting with them and risking his life to help her and Fairy Tail numerous times. There wouldn't be a secret in the world that would stop her from saving his life right here and right now. But first she had to do something.

"It wouldn't matter to me anything you said about him. There isn't a force on Earthland that will stop me from defeating you." Erza said defiantly, she'd let Natsu tell her everything when they got back.

So she ate the pill against Natsu's warning words.

At first nothing happened, but suddenly there was an overwhelming sensation of pain coming from her chest that was so intense it stole her ability to cry out in pain. With the horrible pain oozing through her body, the magic in her system began rejecting the magical pill with arcs of electricity shooting off of her body and reacting negatively with the tower around her.

"Looks like your desperation act didn't work Erza, a pity really but-" Jellal was cut off as a burning sensation lit up from his chest. The source? Erza vanishing from her spot and the bloody dagger in her hand…wait that's not a dagger.

Erza's physical appearance had changed, her canines grew longer and her eyes changed into yellow irises with a slit for her pupil. But the weirdest part was the claws that grew on her hands that dripped with his blood after she just clawed his chest open.

"The pill…turned her into part…dragon." Natsu said tiredly, eyeing the changed Erza with a peculiar gaze. Seeing Erza basically go feral and grow dragon traits was actually pretty kickass in his opinion. He hoped they weren't permanent. She'd kick his ass if they were.

"I didn't…know they could…do that." He wheezed out, watching Erza track down Jellal with her new senses and adapting much faster than he had. She sent Jellal through a wall with a lightning quick punch that knocked his smug ass right out of meteor and lunged after him before she came flying right back from Jellal's own power. Looks like she wasn't completely in the clear.

She rolled to the left and summoned a sword before throwing it in Jellal's direction. The man was forced to doge it but couldn't dodge the surprise swipe of Erza's new, and sharp as hell, claws as they dug into his chest and made him bleed even faster. Erza didn't give a minute to breath before she slashed his face open, just missing his eyes, and kicking him in the stomach before she stuck a dagger in his back when her kick made him lean forward.

He yelled in pain before punching her straight in the throat and staggering her before he yanked out the dagger and threw it haphazardly at her. He unfortunately missed due to the blood blocking his vision and he meticulously rubbed it out. He'd underestimated Erza and now she seemingly was about to dominate him, all her morals seemed to be gone. Where did her hesitance from before go? Was Natsu this important to her?

Unknown to Jellal, Erza knew that the pill's effect did not last long and was going all out from the start to overwhelm him while she still had a chance. So shaking off the pain in her throat, she pulled out two swords from her pocket dimension and charged at him. Wildly swinging her swords in an attempt to skewer him but still not leaving any openings for the powerful mage.

He let out a sigh of relief when he noticed she was already slowing down, but he sidestepped into a pot hole and lost his balance long enough for Erza to make another couple of gashes on his already decimated front. He yelled out in pain and suddenly found some powerful arms wrapped around his throat and kept him from retreating.

"STAB THE BASTARD!" Natsu yelled from his hold of Jellal. The man's eyes widened as Erza charged and impaled him on her sword before Natsu let him go.

"Impossible…" He stumbled and yanked out the sword from his stomach and fell down the hole his Grand Chariot made earlier while his vision slowly faded.

Natsu smiled at the victory and got to work by heating up the wound in his stomach, Erza had stabbed clean through both of them and he needed to end the fight while she could end it. But the day's events suddenly made him collapse, of course, a new stab wound was more than enough to make him pass out.

"Natsu!" Erza said worriedly, she had lost herself with the pill and just needed to hurt Jellal and ended up stabbing both him and Natsu. She caught him before he collapsed and held him close as she examined her new features.

She was surprised at the new claws and teeth, but she could feel her vision was more acute than before and assumed her eyes had changed somehow with the rest of her body. She also noticed that her hearing was greatly improved as well as her sense of smell. She wouldn't mind this honestly, she could wear contacts that made her eyes look normal and cut the claws away to look normal. But what would she do about the teeth?

"Happy! Go get some sort of a boat, Etherion surely destroyed them all." She smiled when the cat shook the tears from his head viciously and took off at the speed of a bullet.

She smiled as she held Natsu protectively in her arms, he'd risked his life again and it paid off. Her demons were gone and she had him to thank for that. As well as her friends somewhere down on the ocean.

She buried her head in Natsu's hair and deeply inhaled the fiery scent that followed him everywhere he went and sighed happily.

"Mine." She said, snuggling into the man even more. Until she stopped and noticed what she'd just said as a blush turned her cheeks the shade of her hair.

 _'There may be more problems with this new me than physical changes. Seems I've become much more possessive…why am I possessive though?'_ She eventually concluded that the pill had simply made Natsu more appealing because they were supposed to be attuned to him. Did that mean that she was now more attuned to his taste in…women?

But that didn't matter, her train of thought was interrupted by a harsh reminder that a country destroying spell was contained just below their feet and the tower had been destroyed. They needed to get off this tower before it exploded. She wrapped Natsu's arm around her shoulder and began walking before a wave of exhaustion she'd never experienced before stopped her in her tracks.

"This is what happens…how do you deal with this?" Erza asked to herself, feeling her knees quake and Natsu's body become twice as heavy. But as exhausted as she was, if she didn't save them now no one would. She regretted telling Happy to go find a boat.

So she forced her feet to keep walking and pretty much dragged the both of them until she collapsed in a heap with Natsu finally regaining consciousness during the fall. She quickly got up and carried him again, the tower beginning to become unstable.

"Erza…are we off the tower yet?" He asked wearily, feeling the use of his legs and the painful throbbing coming from his stomach return.

"No." Was her simple answer, she wouldn't tell him the tower was about to blow up with them on it.

"Is it going to blow soon?" He knew how the tower worked inside and out, and if Etherion wasn't used up in some way, then it was going to blow. End of question.

She sighed as the last of the strength left her legs and she fell again. Dragging Natsu down with her. She stared at the man beside as her mind slowly slipped into unconsciousness, at least she saved him from becoming the reincarnation of Zeref right?

Natsu slowly rose to a sitting position and watched the dragonic traits of Erza recede to how she used to look. He smiled softly, if they managed to escape, she would at least look normal again. Though, a thought came to his head as he watched said traits vanish. How did she manage to, you know, not die? Igneel made it extremely clear that he was the only one who was ever allowed to eat those ridiculous pills and she goes and does it.

He shook his head to clear the troubling thoughts. She survived by some miracle and that was all the time he could spare to think about it, because the tower was about to blow. He groaned as his feet nearly gave out from underneath him with his weight and the woman he was carrying combined. He stared down at the sea from where he stood. He moved Erza around until he was holding her tightly to his chest and leapt back first off the tower, he closed his eyes and hoped he could hit the water.

* * *

Somewhere

* * *

Erza awoke to the sounds of the ocean waves lapping at the beach sands. She groggily opened her eyes and was met with the sight of Natsu unconscious on the ground, and her on top of him. But it wasn't this sight that surprised her, no, it was that they _weren't_ on top of the tower and were somewhere on the outskirts of Akane Resort.

"You got us off the tower…and to the shore without drowning?" She was beyond amazed at this turn of events, so amazed in fact, that she missed how her body had returned to normal and wrapped Natsu in a bone crushing hug.

She expected him to wake from unconsciousness eventually during the embrace, but he didn't.

"Natsu? Are you okay?" She said warily, concerned that he may be more damaged than she thought.

When she got no response she placed her head above his heart and listened closely. Her breath hitched and her heart leaped into her chest when she couldn't hear one.

"Natsu! Wake up! Dammit, he must of swallowed too much seawater. Don't you die on me! Not now!" She spit out, moving to the side and placing her hands above his chest to perform CPR.

When this failed, she swore to herself and fought back the tears that surfaced because he was dead. She pinched his nose close and placed her lips on his to give him the oxygen he desperately needed. She did this until the rest of her friends found them but she paid them no mind as she was too focused on reviving the man who'd done so much for her.

"Erza…I think…you need to stop." Gray said on the verge of tears himself. He was beyond relieved that they were alive, but now he wasn't so sure if he wanted to find them like this. He was only holding them back for her sake.

Lucy said nothing and just stared sadly at the sight of Erza trying to desperately revive Salamander. Happy was sitting on her shoulder and looked like he was about to die.

Sho, Milliana, Simon, and Wally just remained quiet. They tried to kill that man not long ago and it wasn't their place to talk.

The group jumped in surprise when Natsu rolled over and started puking up the contents of his lungs and stomach. Seemed he did drink a lot of seawater during the trip back.

"Natsu?" Erza asked tentatively, her tears of relief were flooding down her cheeks, as were Gray and Lucy's.

Natsu slowly sat up and rubbed his head before clicking his lips several times. "Why does my mouth taste like strawberries?"

"Natsu you idiot…" Erza said happily, wiping the tears from her face with the back of her hand

* * *

One Day Later

* * *

Natsu was actually happy that Erza spent a lot of her time hanging out with her old friends because it let him sort out his weird feelings and catch back up with Happy. He felt a little bad for her when they tried to sneak off in the night, but he felt better after helping give them a 'real Fairy Tail goodbye'. Even if he wasn't a Fairy Tail member.

Speaking of goodbyes, it was almost time for his. He was starting to really enjoy spending time with Erza, seeing her smile, hearing her laugh, and seeing her have fun. He still scratched his chin in confusion, how the hell did he ever start crushing on the woman? He definitely wasn't an expert in love, but he at least knew when he was in it.

"Happy, let's go say goodbye to the guys." Natsu said, heaving his sore and heavily bandaged body off of the mattress and tossing on his clothes. Nice thing about being independent was that he didn't carry luggage and could move from place to place easier.

"Sorry Natsu, Erza told me to keep you here until tonight. She wanted a talk." Happy said apologetically, hiding a fish he was eating and pretending, rather badly, that he wasn't just eating one.

Natsu stared blankly at the bribed cat and sighed before he laid back down and ordered the biggest damn steak the resort had via room service. He demanded they bring three, even if they said he couldn't eat three. Maybe not three bites but he could eat three of their goddamn steaks if he wanted to.

By the time he was halfway into his second steak, Erza, Gray, and Lucy came into his room and shut the door behind them.

"Wat tchu vant?" Natsu said around his food, he didn't like being interrupted while he was eating and made it clear by 'accidentally' spitting chunks of meat on Gray's shirt. Much to the ice wizards anger.

The three looked at one another before Erza stepped forward, since she admitted to knowing more about him than the two she was decided to speak. "Salamander, we'd like you to come back to our guild with us."

Natsu froze on the spot and swallowed what was in his mouth. "So you want me to meet the people in the guild? I'll think about it but-"

"No. We want you to join." The three of them sat down at the table he was eating at while he stared hard at the food in front of him.

He sighed, looks like he'd have to leave them with the truth and let them decide. "Sorry. I can't. If Salamander was to join Fairy Tail, his identity would be registered officially and linked back to Natsu Dragneel almost by the day." He purposefully let the name slip.

"Natsu Dragneel? What about him?" Lucy asked confused, what would Salamander have in common with that guy?

"You know who that guy is?" Natsu said in surprise. "Then how come you didn't recognize me?"

"I've only ever read about him. He was supposed to be one of the most evil mages to ever exist. Only more feared by Zeref. The council killed him when he was still young but I don't remember the details." Lucy explained, having read about that man when she was young herself.

"Back on topic then, well-" Natsu was cut off by Erza slamming her hand on the table.

"You mean you're Natsu Dragneel? You're _that_ Natsu?" She said somewhat angrily.

"Sorry, but I had a reason to keep that secret. If I join Fairy Tail and I'm not handed over by the time the chairman is done fucking talking, then Fairy Tail will be made a dark guild like that." He emphasized his point by snapping his fingers.

"The council is that scared of _anybody_ related to Zeref. Even if my mission is to destroy every single trace of that man, which is what it is, they don't care. They're utterly _terrified_ I could turn into a second Zeref." Natsu didn't have to explain the gravity of his statement. A second Zeref would equal utter destruction to the entirety of the world.

The room was quiet as they absorbed the information and Natsu took that as their answer before he got up to leave.

"So?" Gray said suddenly, drawing Natsu's eyes and attention to him. "I don't believe the council. No one at Fairy Tail likes them and they don't like us. Even Makarov doesn't like them."

"I don't see-" Natsu was cut off again by Lucy.

"I don't believe them either. You can't be the Natsu Dragneel guy, if what they said is true, then you're the noblest and kindest terror of the magic world I'd ever seen." Lucy said with a smile, mirrored by a confident smirk on Gray's lips.

"He is Natsu Dragneel." Erza said suddenly, bringing the conversation to her and her terrifying blank face.

"She's right." Natsu said, seeing Erza get up and stand directly in front of him.

"You told me several things when we first met. You told me Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord were under your unofficial protection in the case of a guild war. Despite being the master of Phantom in the past, you defended Fairy Tail until what could have been your dying breath." Erza began, pushing him against the wall and materializing a sword in her right hand.

"Erza calm down!" Lucy said before Gray grabbed her and sat her back down with only a whisper.

"Tell me why you said those things. Tell me how the scourge of the magic world could say such things. Do such things. You aren't Natsu Dragneel, and Fairy Tail will fight for that. How can you claim that the council would have you killed just for your name? If you are Natsu Dragneel, then prove it to me. I will then believe your story." Erza said, pointing the sword at his chest and continuing to stare blankly.

He brow furrowed when he became serious. "You heard Jellal call me that. You've known for a while I was Natsu Dragneel, why do this now?"

His only answer was for her to drive the sword painfully into his chest.

He closed his eyes in thought before bringing up his hand and coating it with a completely different magic than his flames. A pitch black magic that sucked…something in the room into it before it dispersed. Just with the display of magic, the three found themselves nearly shaking in their boots.

" _That_ is the magic that Zeref's blood will always have. It's the reason I'm such a hot topic to them, because I _can_ become another Zeref. If I just forget one. Simple. Thing." Natsu said darkly causing Erza's façade to finally break and for her worry to be on clear display.

"So you're saying you can become Zeref…" Erza said slowly. Leaving the statement unfinished since it didn't need finished.

"If I forget the value of human life."

Everyone was silent but Erza smiled suddenly before she whispered something into Natsu's ear that made his eyes widen.

"You can't be serious?" He asked, if that was true then he'd need to talk with Makarov.

She nodded and removed her sword. "Sorry I threatened you. But I had a suspicion you had a link with Zeref and I just needed to confirm it. Plus, if you were the monster the council says you were you would have killed me without a second thought. Come with us back to Fairy Tail." She couldn't remove the smile from her face if she wanted to.

Natsu smiled ear to ear before he turned to Happy. "Come on buddy, we have to give these guys the benefit of the doubt and give them a chance."

Erza was happy for him as she watched him get ready, but Gray tugged on her shirt and motioned for her to follow him. When they were a good distance away from Natsu's ridiculous hearing he stopped.

"What the hell did you say?" Gray asked, he racked his brain for anything that could make the man change moods so quick and found nothing.

Erza smirked. "Fairy Tail's first master had relations with Zeref. I believe Zeref might be linked to Fairy Tail somehow, master might be able to explain it."

Gray gulped at the implication. If Natsu would be hanging out at the guild it would be a hell of a lot of fun, but he began to sweat at the mischievous air around Erza. Something happened at the top of the tower and it made him incredibly nervous about what Erza could possibly have in store for the man.

* * *

 **A/N: And done. This bitch is long, but I'm aspiring to get most of the arcs done in a single chapter. But with some of them I don't see that happening if I want to give them decent coverage over most of the events. But considering the next arc, I'm torn between going right in it or finally introducing the other characters of Fairy Tail. Like Mirajane, Elfman, Cana, etc. etc. Or just simply diving in and seeing what sticks.**

 **Anyway, how did you guys like the little twist of Natsu not actually beating Jellal?**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Well, I ended up giving the characters their rightful introductions. I'm glad I just didn't dive into the battle of Fairy Tail and all. I still kind of have to work out that a little bit.**

 **Also, the next arc is Oracion Seis. It's not going to be done in one simple chapter, that arc seems to drag on and on. Especially with how I want to play it.**

 **Anyway, now I'm on break so everything should come out better...hopefully.**

* * *

Natsu and Happy found themselves in awe at the massive building before them. Phantom Lord had absolutely nothing on this place.

"It looks like a king lives here." Natsu mumbled to himself, unknowingly stepping back as the sheer size of the building seemed to overwhelm him.

It was spectacular with several rising towers off the side of the main building and a giant flag hanging down on the central cathedral like building that held it all together. It really was an eye catcher that showed Fairy Tail's power as well as its reputation.

"Let's go. If I have to stand next to you two dancing around fucking each other's brains out anymore I'm going to snap." Gray said, reaching the Fairy Tail doors in a few strides and entering the building and leaving a flabbergasted Natsu and Erza before said girl in question became red with rage and chased him into the guild.

"Is he always that blunt?" Natsu asked himself, recovering from the comment and following Lucy to the guild's doors. When he opened them, a body was sent hurtling at him at breakneck speeds and slammed into him. Knocking him flat on his ass.

Natsu groaned as the stars in his vision faded. "Did I just get hit by a body?"

"Yeah you did. Get used to this crazy crap." Lucy said, hoping that she would find at least one other sane soul in Natsu.

"Hey buddy what's your name?" Natsu asked getting to his feet and helping the man who smacked into him.

"Ugh…Jet…" The orange haired man said, fading in and out of consciousness.

Natsu felt a tick mark grow on his head before grabbing the now named Jet by the foot and kicking the guild's door open and drawing everyone's attention.

"HEY!" He bellowed, raising the man who smacked into him by the foot.

"Who the hell threw a goddamn background character at me?" Natsu demanded, seeing Gray who was being held in a chokehold by Erza raise his hand, said woman was also strangling a white haired woman he recognized as Mirajane with her other hand.

"Watch it next time!" He said before chucking the man and watched as he became a human bullet heading for Gray's skull.

Erza perked up at hearing he dragon slayer's voice and turned to face him at the door. "Oh yes Natsu, I forgot-" She started to say before Jet's skull bouncing off of her own stopped her midsentence.

It stopped the guild's brawl dead in its tracks as everyone stared at the newcomer who'd just beaned Erza dead in the skull with her own guild member.

"Who's that guy?"

"Doesn't matter, Erza's gonna kill him."

"Hey guys, that's-"

All the whispering in the guild was cut off as a surprised dragon slayer's voice reached everybody's ears.

"Salamander!" Gajeel exclaimed in shock. What was his old master doing here? At Fairy Tail no less?

Erza's anger at getting skull bashed vanished at the familiar voice. But she was surprised to already see Natsu at the dragon slayer's table glaring him right back into the seat he'd risen from in his surprise.

The guild was surprisingly quiet. When did The Salamander and Gajeel ever know one another? Did they have a little meeting during the guild war?

The two continued to stare at one another, one in shame of his past actions and the other in confusion until Natsu suddenly reached out and ruffled the other dragon slayer's hair.

"Don't be upset with yourself, you still did what I taught you to do in the end. Didn't you?" Natsu asked giving him a large grin.

Gajeel smacked his hand away in embarrassment. "Piss off Salamander."

The guild stopped worrying until Natsu suddenly grasped his hand and covered himself in flames. "I still remember what you did Gajeel."

Gajeel's eyes widened in surprise and showed his fear of what his master at full strength was capable of. He couldn't bring himself to answer or even retaliate so he simply sat down and continued drinking his drink.

"Good, you're still scared of me. Anyway, Erza. Where's Makarov?" Natsu continued, raising no questions as to why Gajeel was now in Fairy Tail. Though his returning friends wanted to.

Mirajane, whom was now in a hair pulling contest with Erza, looked at him suddenly. "Why are you looking for master?"

"Well after getting back from giving a council member a serious beat down I need to talk to Makarov as soon as possible please." Natsu explained, cleaning out his ear with his pinky while he was bored.

Mirajane's brow furrowed before she shrugged. "Well whatever, master's not here. He won't be for a week. So you'll have to come back later."

Natsu surprised her. "Fuck that. Gajeel!" He began, drawing the attention of the man. "Let's settle things between us with a good old drinking contest!"

To the guild's surprise, Gajeel grinned and plopped down next to him at the bar. The two didn't notice the guild suddenly shake their heads.

"Did someone say drinking contest?" Said a brunette next to the two men, catching their attention as the short haired barmaid brought them both drinks.

"Yeah, we did. Who are you?" Natsu answered for them, eyeing the woman who placed her mug of beer down.

She had shoulder length brown hair, wore nothing more than tight leather pants and a bikini top with a jacket that barely covered it. The only other thing on her being miscellaneous jewelry and some tarot cards.

"My name's Cana Alberona. Fairy Tail's resident alcoholic! I want in on your drinking contest." Cana said from her spot.

Natsu eyed the women up and down for her rather provocative attire. "Lady, we are dragon slayers. It takes a ridiculous amount of alcohol to get us buzzed, let alone to lose a drinking contest."

Cana grinned. "Then you'll be a worthy opponent for me. Let's make it interesting."

Natsu and Gajeel looked at one another before grinning; they were going to rob this woman blind. "What do you have in mind Cana?"

Cana slammed her hand down on the table before pointing a finger at the two dramatically. "Loser goes topless for the rest of the day!"

Natsu and Gajeel's eyes widened before they high fived one another. What a hell of a prize!

"We accept!"

"Beginning betting pools!" Happy said suddenly, donning an official banker uniform as he opened up the pool and began collecting bets.

Gray opened it by putting his money on Salamander. "What kind of buddy would I be if I didn't root for him?"

The men of Fairy Tail all agreed with him, despite all of them knowing Cana's inhumane tolerance to booze, they were going to bank on the dragon slayer duo's natural resistance to it to get Cana topless for the day.

"You guys are pigs!" Mirajane yelled angrily, slamming a large wad of money for Cana in front of the talking cat.

All of the women angrily supported Cana to preserve their female group pride.

It was an all out men vs. women battle.

The short haired barmaid placed mugs for all three of them before bringing her arm down.

"Begin!"

They all tore into their drinks before repeating this pattern until the barrel for each person was empty.

"Go Salamander! Gajeel! You can do it!" The men shouted, chanting 'chug chug chug' with every bottle to spur the two on.

"Don't you dare lose Cana!" Several women began slinging insults at the men on the opposite of the guild.

The two dragon slayers wiped the alcohol from their lips and grinned at Cana lecherously before widening their eyes in surprise. Cana was grinning right back at them, not a tinge of buzz on her features.

They continued drinking until the second barrel was gone. Natsu and Gajeel were finally starting to feel it after two entire barrels.

"Salamander! Gajeel! Salamander! Gajeel!" The men chanted, refusing to lose hope for even a minute even if the two were finally starting to show sign of drunkenness.

"Cana! Cana! Cana!" The females chanted identically, beginning to sweat as Cana was smiling ear to ear. Her tell tale sign she was starting to get buzzed. They realized the dragon slayers were not bragging about their alcohol tolerance blindly.

This continued straight through the third barrel and halfway into the fourth before Gajeel fell out of his chair and collapsed.

"Sorry Salamander…" Gajeel said as he collapsed, beginning to black out from the ungodly amount of beer in his system.

"Gajeel!" The men shouted, Salamander diving to catch him before he hit the ground.

"You can do it Salamander…I believe…" Gajeel whispered as he passed out.

"One down!" Cana said drunkenly, grinning as the Salamander slowly stood and turned to face her and sat back down.

"I'm fired up!"

They started drinking again after the valiant defeat of Gajeel straight through the fourth barrel and into the fifth. Then the contest was beginning to show a winner.

Both Cana and Salamander looked about ready to pass out where they sat. After five barrels the guild had been silenced at the thought Salamander could actually win.

"You can do it Salamander! Do it for all of us! We believe in you!" The men shouted as tears of pride fell from their eyes as the only hope of seeing Cana topless was tottering on his chair after coming so far.

"Cana you can't lose! What would happen if you did?" The females countered, trying to raise the morale of the drunken brunette who also was on the edge.

"The little red dragon…rides a bigger red dragon…they live together in a little red house…" Salamander sang drunkenly, slinging an arm around Cana as the two clinked mugs before continuing to drink.

"In that little red house lives a little brown dragon…with a bigger brown dragon…who could drink better than the red dragons!" Cana continued for him, filling her mug again as they nearly finished the fifth barrel.

"In that little red house…" Natsu continued, before he dropped his arm from the brunette's shoulder and wobbled to his feet.

"Salamander no!"

"Fall!"

Natsu righted himself before yelling at the top of his lungs and grabbing his entire barrel and downing it in a few seconds. Astonishing the entire group and his drunken competitor.

"I may have lost the battle! But I have won the war!" Natsu said proudly, turning to face his supporters before dropping to his knees.

"I'm sorry…" Natsu said as he finally collapsed.

"Winner! Cana Alberona!" The barmaid said.

"Whoo!" She shouted, drunk out of her mind before she joined her drinking buddies on the ground and drunkenly snoozed their booze off.

"Salamander!" The men shouted, crowding around their hero and crying over his defeated body with a smile on his face.

* * *

Later

* * *

A now topless Natsu was sitting at the bar and conversing with his new drinking friend. "So Cana, you don't get hangovers either?"

She grinned and looked him up and down purposefully getting her eyeful of his desirable body. "Nope! I'm more alcohol than human!"

Natsu grinned right back at her. "I've never lost a drinking contest before Cana. I'll not lose to you ever again!"

She laughed and clapped her hands, still somewhat drunk. "I've never found someone who could handle alcohol at my level." She suddenly pulled out a piece of paper and wrote something on it.

"That's the address of a kickass bar. I want to see you there at eight tomorrow night." Cana said, with a twinge of red on her cheeks.

Natsu stared at the paper before he looked at the woman with a questioning look. "Is this you asking me on a date?"

Cana smirked and winked at him. "You can call it whatever you like."

Natsu suddenly blushed heavily at the implications. "I'm sorry I have to refuse, I kind of have my eye somewhere else."

Cana blinked before she swore to herself lightly. "Damn, I missed my chance. Oh well, want me to read your fortune? Could help you with your lady friend."

She pulled out a deck of tarot cards that were on her person and spread them out.

"I pick three right? I knew a guy that did this all the time." He said, agreeing and picking the three of his choice at her nod.

"All right let's see. Oh boy…you're gonna be a busy boy." Cana said with a slightly deeper twinge of red on her cheeks.

"What?" He asked concerned.

"This one means fertility. This one means eternal, usually for love. And this one is another fertility. That means you're going to have a pretty big family." Cana explained, placing the cards back in her deck.

"How big?" He asked curiously.

She shrugged. "Don't know, it doesn't show up for at least five kids."

He grinned ear to ear. "Awesome! I always wanted a huge family, I'll have an army of dragon slayers!"

She blinked in surprise, Salamander was kind of a strange guy, besides being a god on the alcohol level.

* * *

The Next Day

* * *

Natsu was snoring away in a tree near the forest, Erza had been pretty dead set against it but after explaining he was still a wanted criminal she finally relented and let him do what he wanted.

Happy stared at his friend with a mischievous grin on his face and pulled out a fish. He poised himself to strike Natsu dead in the face as a wake up present. But was interrupted.

"Is that you Salamander?" The white haired take over mage said from below the tree.

His eyes slowly cracked open and adjusted to the sun in his eyes. "Who's there?" He asked with a yawn, sitting and stretching the sleepiness out of his system.

"It's Mira. You know, the one who's jaw you broke at the train station in Oshibana?" Mira said, a little amount of bitterness in her voice. She was still a little bit peeved that she'd been bested so easily by the renowned criminal.

Natsu blinked at the white haired woman in a black tank top and leather pants and took in her appearance. He grinned once he recognized her and jumped down to speak to her face to face. "Mira huh? Nice to meet you, again, but instead of fighting as soon as I meet you let's get the introduction out of the way."

Mira stared blankly. "We already got the introductions out of the way Salamander."

He blinked before scratching his head in embarrassment. "Oops, sorry about that. Still getting all the sleepiness out of the system."

Mira grinned at the man. "Nah, you're just that stupid."

Natsu put a hand to his chest and faked a hurt tone. "That's harsh Mira. I heard you were a demon, but I didn't think it was true for someone so beautiful."

Mira stared blankly again at the obvious attempt to fluster her. Too bad that Salamander wasn't remotely charming. "You suck at flirting."

Natsu tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean flirting? I was being serious."

Mira's stare hardened. _'Clever bastard.'_

She dropped any pretense of annoyance and offered the man her hand to shake, which he accepted with a smile. "What exactly are you here for? I know you want to talk to master but what for? You want to join or something?"

Natsu suddenly looked serious. "I don't think that's possible, though I doubt you'd understand unless I told you. So I'll just make it simple, if I join I'll get your master arrested and Fairy Tail will get turned into a dark guild."

Mira looked pretty unconvinced. "You haven't done anything that bad. You just took the rap for Lullaby, the council won't get that angry over something like that. Especially if master, Gray, and Erza vouch for you. Ah hell, I was there and so was Lucy. We'd vouch for you too."

Natsu suddenly shook his head and caught the fish Happy threw to him before he started cooking it with his magic. Making it much more difficult to take what he was saying seriously. "Nope, you got it all wrong. Not like you'd be able to figure it out unless I told you."

Mira felt a little offended, did he think she was an idiot? "Do you enjoy mocking how little I know about you? If you want to play like that then I could give you serious shit for being in my personal training field."

Natsu looked surprised. "This is your scent?" He started sniffing around and making the woman self conscious. "I thought one of Zeref's demons was around here. That's why I parked myself here for the night. Otherwise I would have sneaked into Erza's room and took a nap there. She kind of wanted that anyway."

Mira was now less self conscious. But she was a little concerned, was tin can going to bag a guy before she did? That was completely unacceptable.

"Nah, Erza's a real prude. If you wanted someone to sleep with, I could have filled that role." Mira purposefully stretched her arms in a way her sizeable bust was pushed outwards towards the man slightly. She grinned inwardly when she spotted how hard he was trying to not look.

He took a bite out of the fish in his hands to distract himself from Mira's boobs. "I probably would have taken you up on that if you said something. Would have been nice to sleep on a couch instead of a tree."

Mira grinned lecherously before walking closer to Natsu and leaned forward and placed a finger on his chest. "Who said you'd be sleeping on a couch Salamander~."

Natsu completely missed the lewd tone in her voice and the message in her words. "I'm not following. Why would I sleep in your bed if a couch was available?"

Mira almost faulted at the density of Salamander's skull, but she remained strong through sheer force of will. "Oh you know, you and me in the same bed. A powerful mage like you having such a defenseless woman like me sleeping right next to you would give you certain _urges_. I also tend to sleep _in the nude~._ "

To his credit, Natsu did figure out what the woman was implying and nearly had his neck snapped because of the ferocity of his nosebleed. But he managed to recover enough to form a coherent response.

"T-That sounds like a w-wonderful time Mira. B-But I'm not into you l-like that." Natsu attempted to back away from the predatory gaze in the woman's eyes but found a tree blocking his escape. He soon found himself trapped between her arms as they slammed to the sides of his head. It really didn't help right now that he liked powerful women.

"She liiiikes you!" Happy said perversely from the tree.

"Oh?" She cooed with an innocent smile on her face. "I don't think you'd object much if I kissed you right now would you?" She put one of her hands underneath his chin and forced him to look in her eyes.

He used his new hole to quickly escape her grasp faster than she could react. "Sorry Mira. But I already like someone like that." Cana backed off once he was upfront with his feeling, so she should too right?

"Eh?" Mira said with a glare. "It wouldn't happen to be Erza would it?"

Natsu was surprised, she could guess who his crush was with just a single guess? "Y-Yeah. How'd you know?"

Mira suddenly looked pissed. "What' so special about her huh? What's she got that I don't?"

It became painfully obvious to him that Erza and this woman did _not_ get along with each other and that this women was now insanely jealous. So he did the only rational thing when faced with a jealous female.

He ran.

He ran on a flying cat with wings.

"Happy!" He shouted, the blue cat racing down and grabbing him and heading towards the Fairy Tail guild where he would be safe from the woman.

He and Happy wiped the nervous sweat from their brows after narrowly escaping the violence of the demon woman. Seriously, all the powerful women of Fairy Tail were terrifying.

Natsu turned to open the guild doors but a scream from behind him caused him to turn around.

"SALAMANDER!"

He was unable to tell what object made the scream. But all he cared about was being full on tackled through the guild doors and rolling all the way onto the middle of the guild hall with Mira pinning him to the ground by his arms and holding them above his head. He was too terrified to remember he could force the woman off of him. That was something pretty damn important to forget.

"Now you listen here." She began frightfully. Upon seeing the man nod his head vigorously she continued. "I'm going to kiss you, do whatever I please and you're going to enjoy it."

"Can I ask something?" He said seriously, noticing the whole guild's attention on him.

Mira nodded her head.

"Good. SOMEONE HELP ME!" He yelled, trying his best to fight off the woman holding him down. He was surprised at her strength, he'd actually have trouble getting her off of him.

His saving grace came in the form of the iron dragon slayer. "While I don't particularly care, what did he do to get you so angry so I won't do it in the future?"

Natsu stared horrified at Gajeel. "You trait-mmph!" He was unable to continue talking because Mira had placed both of his hands under one of hers and used her now free hand to keep him silent.

"Ignore him, he simply didn't return my advances. Go away." Mira answered straightforwardly, pressing herself even closer to the man.

"You do know I can't go anywhere right? You're in the middle of the guild." Gajeel said with a suppressed giggle. Gray, who was drinking with him, was completely laughing his ass off.

"What?" Mira said suddenly, not noticing the tiny squeak of fear in her voice. She raised her head and looked all around at the laughing faces of her guildmates and her face gave Erza's hair color a run for her money.

She screeched at the top of her lungs and jumped behind the counter and rocked back and forth with her knees drawn all the way to her face. "No one saw. No one saw. No one saw."

Natsu stared at the ceiling, immensely relieved that she wasn't so shameless as to fuck him right in the middle of the guild. He didn't know if that was where it would have eventually gone, but he was glad he didn't have to find out. Well, he wasn't glad per say, Mira was a knockout so it wouldn't have been all that bad. Great, now he was starting to regret not going through with it because he had a crush. Oh well, too late now to worry about it.

* * *

Later

* * *

"So, Mira trying to jump your bones was the highlight of today. Anything else happen?" Gray asked the dragon slayer with a smirk.

Natsu sighed. "No, that was like the first thing she did when I woke up. I was in her private training field or something." He took an extra large gulp of the drink in his hand and was beginning to forget why he'd refused Mira's advances as much as he did. That was, until Erza decided to walk into the guild with Lucy and he was reminded why Mira was inferior to his heart.

Erza took a seat next to him and Lucy took a seat next Gray. "Good morning Salamander. Have you made any decisions about staying?" She asked with a pleasant smile.

He stared for a moment before he shook his head. "No, nothing's going to change until I talk to the master. You guys know that."

Erza moved to say something until a tall and large man came and placed his hand in front of Natsu's drink.

"It's unmanly to flirt shamelessly with a man's sisters." The man said. On closer inspection, he was well built and was quite tall; towering over Natsu himself by an entire foot.

"You were flirting with Elfman's sisters?" Erza asked in surprise. Feeling a pang of both annoyance at his antics and jealousy that he was showing interest in Mira whatsoever.

Natsu sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Listen, uh…" He looked across the table to Gray for assistance with the big man's name.

"Elfman." Gray said simply. A beyond amused grin on his face.

"Elfman. No I was not. You saw me get tackled _and_ pinned down while I screamed for someone to help me didn't you?" Natsu said, trying to dissuade the building anger in Elfman.

Instead, Elfman simply imposed himself even more over the dragon slayer who leaned back in his chair slightly. "Let's have a little manly discussion."

Natsu stared at the full table and its occupants. "There's nowhere for you to sit."

In response, Elfman simply grabbed Gray by the back of his shirt and tossed him in a random direction onto some poor soul's dinner. He then seated himself next to a sweating Lucy when she saw that the table Gray landed on developed into a mindless brawl.

Natsu stared at the sight with a huge grin before he laughed. "Oh that was awesome. Please do that again sometime."

Elfman suddenly lit up in a big smile and grabbed Natsu by the collar and held him over his head. "Time for the initiation!" He then tossed him onto the other side of the guild and charged like a madman.

Erza suddenly sighed in frustration. "I thought Elfman was going to fight him. Their just giving him the initiation for when he joins now."

Lucy gaped at the brawl that had commenced, sweat dropping when she saw Natsu give Gray a taste of a chair before being tackled by Elfman. "He's certainly fitting in well here. They're all mindless brutes."

Erza suddenly stood from her seat and craned her neck. "You should join in. They can be quite fun. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and drive Mira's face into the wall."

Lucy continued to gape when Erza leaped and landed a flawless flying kick into Mira's cheek and left her face driven into the wall. Exactly as she said.

"No one here is sane."

* * *

That Night

* * *

"That was awesome. Man I'm sore though." Natsu said with a smile, sporting many signs of a guild wide brawl that took away the majority of the day on his body.

"Aye sir! I wish I could have joined though. Every time I did someone punted me out of the guild." Happy said sadly, wishing to join his best friend in the mayhem.

"Oh that was me." Natsu said with a grin.

"Why…" He said sadly as he flew off to sulk in the corner since everyone gave him pity fish if he acted that depressed.

"What can I get you?" Said the short haired barmaid as she braced herself against the counter top.

Natsu snapped out of his stupor and stared at the woman for a moment before an embarrassed smile broke on his face. "Sorry about that. I'll just take something large and well done. Hey I never caught your name."

The woman smiled. "It's Lisanna. I'll be right back."

He stretched his sore arms and was suddenly hit in the back of the head by a mysterious body of someone he didn't recognize. He turned around with a glare that vanished instantly when he noticed Erza and Mira still brawling on top of several unconscious guild members.

He wisely ignored the brawl until his meal was dropped in front of him and he began salivating. "Oh this looks delicious." Upon tearing into his meal his eyes bugged out of his skull as the flavors danced inside of his mouth.

"Holy crap! This is good!" He then began stuffing his face as fast as he could swallow the food.

"I'm glad. Hey, can you tell me why my sister Mira tried to jump you in the middle of the guild? She's never really showed interest in guys before." Lisanna asked, resting her head on her hand and looking at the surprised man.

"Well." He began, swallowing the last of the food on the tray. "She thought I was flirting for a bit. Then I said I was interested in Erza and then it kind of snowballed from there. Do those two not get along or something?"

Lisanna looked completely convinced at her sister's attitude change. "That makes complete sense. Those two have hated each other sense they were kids. They only became teammates for the Lullaby incident. Thanks for that by the way, and then they just decided to keep it official. Of course, Erza didn't invite Mira to Akane Resort since she hates her. She was _angry_ at that."

Natsu smiled a little at the thought of Mira losing her shit. "Didn't know the bad blood ran that deep."

Lisanna moved to speak but Gray suddenly appeared behind the man she was just talking to and slammed his head into the table before tossing him across the guild.

"That was for that cheap shot!" He yelled before leaping after Natsu and engaging in another brawl that was now dangerously close to interrupting Erza and Mira's.

"Oh no." Lisanna mumbled to herself, half wanting to watch the blood bath and half not wanting to.

Lisanna's fear was proven true when Salamander was tossed straight into Erza, who in turn crashed into Mira. The whole thing ended with Natsu in a coiled heap with the fighting women. He ignored the fact completely and grabbed Erza and threw her at Gray. Falsely believing she was another unconscious body.

When the dust settled and a furious Erza was staring at him from on top of a, pretending to be unconscious Gray, with cold blooded fury. Salamander gulped when his fear left him immobilized until a powerful grip had him trapped. He looked behind him and saw Mira's angry visage.

"Do your worst tin can."

Apparently Mira and Erza really hated having their fights interrupted.

* * *

The Next Day

* * *

After receiving dire medical attention, Natsu awoke in the guild's medical ward with a jump. He shook as the dream he was having involved being violently beaten by Erza and Mira…oh wait that was what really happened.

"Man…these chicks are going to kill me." Natsu mumbled to himself, stepping out of the guild with a yawn and sitting at the bar and finished rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Ah. He's alive." Gray said, sitting next to the man who glared angrily.

"This is all you fault." Natsu said as angrily as his glare.

"Just relax, that was your initiation. Everybody who's joining does it eventually, except Erza. She beat everybody unconscious who tried." Gray explained casually. Accepting the nearly frozen drink with a smile.

"Initiation my ass. We'll have to see about that." Natsu received a tap on his shoulder from Mira.

"Master will be here tomorrow." Mira said.

"Oh cool." Natsu said, leaning over to whisper something in Gray's ear. "Watch this."

Gray simply looked on with a raised eyebrow as the dragon slayer made a show of looking around the guild.

"Man where's Erza? I was going to ask her to dinner tonight." He said with an obviously fake tone of disappointment.

A tickmark visibly appeared on Mira's skull. "She'll say no. Come on, I'll go with you."

Natsu stopped and made a show of looking Mira up and down before bringing a thoughtful hand to his chin. "I don't know, I like Erza's ass a little bit more than yours."

Gray spit out his drink and choked on the rest of it that didn't escape in time. Natsu had balls made of solid steel.

Mira's jaw hit the floor before she self-consciously looked back at her backside. "My ass is way better than that red headed skank's!"

Natsu looked her up and down again, ignoring the fact Gray was silently dying right next to him. "You're clothes are better than her's. That's for sure. Hmm…"

Mira unconsciously shrunk away from the staring.

Natsu's head suddenly snapped up. "Hey, now that I think about it. Something happened at the tower I want to talk to her about." He said, he had forgotten about Erza's dragonic traits and what it could mean by getting wrapped up in the guild and its antics.

Gray quickly elbowed him in the ribs and whispered something in his ear. "Erza hasn't told anyone yet. You fucking idiot."

He scratched his head in embarrassment. "Sorry about that. I'll be going, this is kind of important." He quickly made his leave and left the embarrassed Mira to get her explanation from Gray. Until a hand rested on his shoulder.

"This is for talking about my ass." A powerful fist sent him flying from the guild and blasting through the town. Finally ending with his face buried in the ground.

He slowly got up and rubbed his sore jaw. Kicking a stray rock in annoyance. "Can't even screw with that woman. Oh well, got to find Erza. Maybe I'll actually ask her to dinner later after this."

It didn't take him long, he memorized her scent a while ago and he found her at a certain weapons shop and looking disappointed in it before turning and spotting him.

"Oi! Erza!" Natsu yelled, getting her attention and quickly running up to the woman and stopping just in front of her.

"It's nice to see you Salamander. What do you want?" Erza asked curtly, wishing to get to the meat of the matter instead of beating around the bush.

"Actually, do you have anywhere more private we could talk? It's about _it_ you know." Natsu said, trying to get his point across without spilling something she wasn't happy with spilling yet.

Erza's eyes widened slightly before they went back to normal size. "I see, come with me and we'll talk."

The two walked in comfortable silence until coming to a secluded area of the forest.

"So what is it you wanted to talk about?" She had a small hunch, but it was better to ask than jump to conclusions.

"About you turning part dragon." He answered bluntly.

"What about it? It's in the past isn't it?" She asked with curiosity. It wasn't like she was still part dragon right?

"I think you're still like that right now." He answered.

"How exactly can you tell that?" She knew he was partly dragon himself, was there something that let him know since he was part dragon?

He shrugged. "Nothing really, it's just a hunch and I have something in mind if you are."

Erza sighed. "I know someone who would be able to tell. Porlyusica. She's our medical advisor."

* * *

With Porlyusica

* * *

"That's the story. Could you tell me if I am or not now?" Erza asked, she had just finished explaining the story to Porlyusica. It had taken the women forever to let them in, but she eventually did. In fact, Natsu had the idea of telling the human hating woman that technically they both might not be human, with her being part dragon and he a dragon slayer. That argument ended when she hit him in the face with a broom.

"I suppose, I have a few dragon slayer tests I can perform. Salamander, please leave. You might influence these tests." The old woman said, Natsu nodded his head and left the room, leaving the two alone.

"All right, the easiest way to test this would be to ask if he's marked you yet." Porlyusica began, pulling up a book and a notepad and beginning to flip through both. Leaving her back to face the woman as she searched for something.

"Marked?" She asked hesitantly, before her face became as red as her hair. "W-We haven't d-done anything l-l-like that!"

Porlyusica nodded and jotted something down. "All right. Not much is known about dragons at all, so that was more morbid curiosity than anything. Of course you were no help. Anyway, I'm going to give you a series of tests that will check if your senses have changed as you said they did." Erza nodded her head in understanding, a little peeved of the woman prying into her life like that.

Suddenly the woman snapped her fingers and turned to face her. Then she brought up two pieces of paper and rubbed them together. Then she grabbed a wooden spoon and smacked the papers before she took a green paste and tossed it on the papers.

Erza was a little annoyed at the random actions of the women. "Why are you making all those random noises?"

Porlyusica stopped and glared at her. "You shouldn't have been able to hear half of them. These papers here have seals on them that reduce sound. Here, eat this."

Erza was too shocked to hear the news to pay attention to the foul smelling green past and simply ate it without event. But once she did, there was a large amount of immediate regret as the bitterness of the paste made her tongue want to physically tear itself out of her mouth.

"That was horrible! What the hell was that?" Erza demanded, a sour look on her face as she hastily drank the water offered to her.

"Shouldn't have been able to taste or smell that. Judging by that reaction, you did both." Porlyusica stated bluntly, marking a few things down on her notepad. She rose her head slightly from the notes she was taking.

"Salamander, get back in here. I want something from you." Porlyusica said, finishing up whatever she was writing and pulling out another book after exchanging it with one on her nearby bookshelf.

Natsu came in with little ceremony, on his part, and stared at Erza expectedly. She simply shook her head to show she wasn't sure anymore and watched Fairy Tail's medical advisor.

"So? Is she a dragon or not?" It looked like they were done, and Erza looked kind of bummed.

"Oh definitely she still has dragon characteristics. She seems no different from a dragon slayer such as yourself. So the physical effects are still present, I doubt they would change ever if they haven't after all this time already." The woman said, licking her finger before turning to a page and nodding.

"You mean she's actually part dragon and it wasn't my imagination that she's been sniffing stuff more often?" Natsu asked in surprise, catching an annoyed iron gauntlet slap to the back of the head.

"I was _not_ sniffing things more often." Erza said defiantly, not mentioning how the scent of her strawberry cake had been stronger lately. She sighed suddenly and her mood dropped. "I guess there were serious repercussions for doing something that reckless at the tower."

"I wouldn't say they were reckless, you actually could use these to your advantage. Dragon's are incredibly strong creatures, so you may have gotten stronger from simply eating the pills. Speaking of, Salamander." Porlyusica said, turning her attention from the requip mage and to the dragon slayer.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Two things. One, I want one of those pills to examine. And two, I want to see if Erza has motion sickness." She said, ignoring how Natsu had clearly stated that the pills were something not to be played with.

Natsu scowled and popped open the bottle. "I've only got about eight left, hanging out with you guys has been making me pop these things more than I want to, so don't screw it up. You only got one chance at this."

"I'll only need one chance, I might even be able to recreate these things. Now, while I do this, go find out if Erza gets motion sick or not. I'll send someone to bother you when I get the results. Trust me, I _will_ get those results." Porlyusica said, an excited glint in her eye as she beheld the powerful little device in her hands.

Natsu nodded his head and turned to the woman next to him who was now ready to leave. "The fastest way to find that out, and let me finish also, is to carry you until I get somewhere more private and tell you the second reason I had us come here in the first place. You know, besides finding out if those pills did anything."

Erza stared at him blankly as if the idea physically made her stupider. "I hardly see how carrying me will make me motion sick."

Natsu merely shrugged. "It gets me as sick as riding on a train. Now I can either piggyback you, toss you over my shoulder, or carry you like a bride. Your choice I don't really care."

Her glare hardened before Porlyusica slammed a broom in between them. "I don't care how you do it, it's part of the tests and I'm telling you to carry the damn woman. Now get out of my house and argue somewhere else."

Natsu and Erza glanced at each other before apologizing and leaving the elderly woman's home. Once they were alone, Erza's face tinted the slightest bit pink.

"I suppose it's best to find out now if I have a new weakness now rather than later when it may get me killed. Just carry me however is the most comfortable for you." She would soon come to regret the bluntness of her statement when she was harshly reminded of how blunt the dragon slayer already was.

She couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit more embarrassed about being carried bridal style by someone like him. Sure, she took showers with her male guildmates before, but she didn't have this kind of skin ship with Natsu. So it was embarrassing about how shameless he was; despite how she also is seemingly shameless in some regards.

"Well, just get comfortable. I'd ask you to change out of your armor, but it isn't all that bad. It's just-ow." Natsu began, walking off in the direction of Magnolia before cutting himself off as Erza's chest plate dug into his stomach by accident with each step.

"My apologies." She said while requiping into a white blouse and blue skirt. She finally managed to ignore the strange emotions at being carried and learned to just enjoy it while she could.

"Thanks. Now, back to what I was trying to say. What was I about to say?" He said, nearly forgetting he was carrying her and dropping her to scratch his head in confusion. He was glad he did remember or else she would whoop his ass.

She sighed and ran a hand down her face in exasperation. "The _other_ reason you wanted to find out if I had some dragon qualities. Which I do by the way."

His eyes lit up in excitement as his previous train of thought returned. "Oh yeah. I wanted to see if you could learn any dragon slaying magic is all."

She looked at him confused. "Now why would I learn that? Plus, isn't it too late for something like that? Don't you need to be young to learn it?"

He simply smiled and looked down at her. "Usually yeah. But since you kind of turned dragon, I thought you still might be able to learn it."

She shook her head with an amused smile. Whenever the big idiot smiled himself she couldn't help but let its infectiousness spread to her own face. "I'm not a brawler like you Natsu. I can't fight so hardheaded like you can, it doesn't always work either."

He stopped walking and stared at her. "You're not a brawler? You tore Jellal apart when you went feral at the tower. And you looked pretty damn great while you were doing it too."

She sighed and looked away. He said the truth, so she wouldn't be able to sway that idea from his mind. "While that idea does sound interesting, I'm not getting motion sick as you see. So I probably won't be able to learn."

"Let's settle it right here then." He said suddenly, placing her down and cracking his neck.

"What do you mean?" She asked curiously.

"Try and eat this." He said, creating a little fireball in his hand and tossing it at her.

Her eyes widened in surprise and only just managed to swat it away with her armor. His eyes narrowed in annoyance while hers glared angrily.

"Don't be scared."

"I am not scared. Throw it again and you'll see what I am."

"How about if I do it too?"

"You can't eat your own fire."

"Oh yeah. Catch."

"Natsu…"

"All right fine."

When she nodded her head in acceptance while he pouted and kicked at the ground, she turned and began walking back to Magnolia. So, having no other idea to make her try, he did the only sane thing he could think of.

He set her on fire.

She shrieked at the top of her lungs and hastily requiped into her Flame Empress armor and dissipated the flames. She turned and stomped towards the surprised man with a fury. She ground her teeth in anger and grabbed him by his collar, watching his eyes open in surprise.

"Your face. It's changed." He said with a stare and prying himself from her hands.

"What?" She patted her face with her hand and found nothing different about it. She began to get angry again until her hands grazed her teeth. Finding her canines longer and sharper than they were supposed to be.

"You went feral again." His face was still in its surprised stupor before he got super excited and began closely examining her face. She was pulled out of her surprise with how annoyingly close he was.

"You look so awesome! I wish I looked that much like a dragon!" He continued to mull over her features while she mentally adjusted herself with apparently changing again. But that failed when he started poking her teeth, she was just annoyed then.

"Natsu!" She said angrily. "Stop getting in my face!"

He recoiled at the sound and complied with her wishes. His eyes sparkled even more though. "Even your voice is more badass! This is so cool!"

Her eye began twitching in suppressed anger. "This is not cool Natsu! This is a serious problem! I can't go back to the guild looking like this!"

He recoiled at her anger, something she seemed more sensitive too in this state he noted, and looked down at the ground, feeling bad that he thought something like that was cool. "Sorry Erza. I just like dragon stuff."

She glared at him for a bit before she sighed and pulled back, her glare now a softer look. "It's fine. But how do we get rid of this?" She finished, gesturing to the new changes. She even pulled her gauntlet off and checked if her claws had grown back; they had.

Natsu put his hand under his chin and began thinking. "Well, if being coated in my fire turned you like that…how about eating it? What'd you think that'd do?"

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, forgetting she had claws and breaking the skin on her nose by accident. "Dammit Natsu. Now I've cut myself because of you!"

He put his hands up defensively and looked genuinely hurt. "I'm sorry! I didn't know that would happen!"

Her anger didn't fade. "Give me some fire to eat. I'll try like this."

He complied and made a ball of fire in his hand that was as cool as he could make it. She reached for it and pulled her hand back quickly.

"It' s as cold as ice." She stated, glaring at him. He was supposed to give her fire to eat, not some fiery damn ice!

He raised an eyebrow and tested the flames temperature himself. It was cold, but it wasn't _that_ cold. He stared at her wordlessly before turning up the flames to a normal temperature, for him at least. This time, the flame quickly jumped into her hand, without him telling it to, and snaked up her arm. It continued like this until her entire arm was coiled in fire.

Natsu couldn't contain his enthusiasm. "That looks fucking sweet."

"What's going on?" She said worriedly. All she had done was think about hitting Natsu in the face if the fire was cold again and it jumped to her.

"Try telling it to do other stuff." He said, offering his input.

She looked at him angrily. "You're the fire mage here. _You_ tell _me_ what to do with it."

He thought for a moment. "Try telling your fire to go away."

She looked back at the flames and concentrated heavily, she told it to disperse but it stayed put on her arm and eventually she gave up after five minutes of it doing nothing. "I can't make it do anything. When it did this I just really wanted to hit you."

He sweatdropped at the casual answer and stared at the flame more. "Eat it."

She opened her mouth to say something back, along the lines of 'no you incompetent moron', but the fire took its chance to rush into her mouth and down her throat.

She blinked in surprise, she'd just eaten fire and the only thing that happened was her body feeling a bit warmer all over and a peculiar feeling in her magic. Even her magic felt different, it felt almost warmer now.

"Oh cool you didn't burn to death. That's a step in the right direction." Natsu said casually, placing a hand back under his chin and beginning to think of how to change her back.

She growled angrily at the dragon slayer before she stopped in surprise. Since when could she growl like a dog? When her attention was eventually brought back to Natsu, she wished it wasn't, he had a shit eating grin on his face at hearing her growl.

"I wouldn't do that again, I found it adorable." He said jokingly before becoming serious again.

"Stop mocking me! I didn't do it on purpose." She said embarrassed.

 _'And why was it adorable?'_ Her thoughts eventually stopped there with a tiny tinge of red on her cheeks. She was subtly wishing he would ask her to growl again.

"Hey." He began, pulling the redhead out of her thoughts with an unnoticeable start. "Try telling yourself to turn back. If that doesn't work, tell the fire in you to turn it back."

She stared, confused. "Tell the fire in me?"

He nodded his head. "Yeah, Igneel taught me that there was a fire in everybody. So if you can eat fire, then it should listen to you."

It felt like there was a flaw in that logic, but if what he told her about his past was true then those words came straight from a dragon's mouth. A dragon can't be wrong about its own element can it?

"Or you know. He could have been full of shit when he told me that."

 _'Never mind.'_ She thought tiredly, the whole thing was beginning to annoy her.

She closed her eyes and took in a few calming breaths. She focused on commanding that foreign feeling in her body to turn her back to normal, she tried every strategy that could possibly mean normal and was silent in concentration for a solid ten minutes. When she finally opened her eyes, Natsu was sitting down a little bit away from her drawing something in the dirt with a stick.

"Natsu, get over here." She ordered, watching the dragon slayer jump up and quickly go over to her and look disappointed.

"Aw man. You look normal again. That's boring." He said with a pout as he kicked a rock nearby with his foot.

She felt a vein nearly burst at his proclamation. "What's wrong with normal _Natsu_?"

He completely missed the deathly undertones in her sentence because he avoided looking at her face. "You just looked really hot all dragon like. You look pretty hot already, but it was a different kind if you get what I mean."

If Natsu hadn't covered his own ass by saying she was already attractive, he'd be buried up to his chest head first in the dirt, but since he did Erza could only become flustered at the bluntness of his statement.

"Let's just go back to the guild and avoid setting me on fire in the future if possible. I have to prepare for the Miss Fairy Tail contest tomorrow." She said, walking off towards the guild and leaving a confused Natsu to catch up to her.

"Miss Fairy Tail contest?"

* * *

 **A/N: I couldn't resist, I had to make Erza and Mira bitter rivals since I made Lisanna never die. Though in all honesty, Lisanna should of really stayed dead.**

 **Oh well, I hope you enjoyed and remember to stroke my ego. Next up is the battle of Fairy Tail.**


End file.
